


Hidden Stars

by CopperRose



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Depression, Don't take medication like this, F/F, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-05-09 05:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5528006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CopperRose/pseuds/CopperRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he was a boy Geoff just wanted to find his soulmate but how he was supposed to do that when everyone made such a big deal about showing your mark only to your soulmate?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hiding, Though I Don't Know Why

When the mark first appeared Geoff, then only ten years old, had been so excited he had almost fallen down the stairs running to show his parents. It was unique, all marks were but this one even more so, a green star inside a black ring. The mark was on the right side of his chest and could easily be covered by a shirt. His mother had been skeptical at first, children often liked to pretend that their mark would be something odd like a dinosaur or a star but after she had rubbed the mark down with rubbing alcohol and it didn't come off she was sure the star was real.

Geoff had wanted to show it off to everyone but his parents had reprimanded him for this. The mark was something sacred, something you should only ever show to your soul mate, or at least that's what they had told him. That didn't make any since, as far as Geoff was concerned, because how were you suppose to know if someone was your soul mate if you never let anyone see your mark? It was no wonder, he had thought, that neither of his parents had ever met the people whose marks matched their own.

Still he did as he was told and never took his shirt off in a public place. Meanwhile, boys and girls in his classes began coming to school wearing leather bracers, some girls started to wear pants and thick tights with their skirts, and at least one boy was constantly wearing one glove at all times while in class. It made Geoff miserable to think about the fact that anyone of the people sitting around him could have been his soul mate and he wouldn't know because some asshole decided that their marks should always be covered.

~BREAK~

Most people can go their whole lives never meeting the person whose mark matches their own. Geoff didn't like to think about that fact and yet it worried him even as he went from grade school to high school. He shouldn't have been so uneasy about the idea of never finding his partner when he was only fifteen, that's what everyone told him, but he _was_ uneasy and he knew that the only thing that would make him better was finding his soul mate, whoever they were.

But Geoff was one of the lucky ones, even if he didn't know it when he first began high school and if he had known, he wouldn't have fought so hard to get out of gym class.

Sure, Geoff normally thought that hiding your mark was stupid but that didn't mean he wouldn't at the very least try to use it get out of gym class. He tried to argue that someone who wasn't his soul mate might see his mark in the changing room, which was considered to be inappropriate to more than a few people, but it didn't work. Apparently a lot of students tried to get out of gym with this claim and until his mother came to the school herself to complain, there was no getting out of it. Geoff decided that there was no way his mom would bail him out of taking gym so he gave up and reluctantly took the class.

Things actually went fine for the for the first few months in the class. Most of the people in the locker room were skittish around one another. They had all been raised with a similar mind set that seeing another person's mark, especially when they weren't your soul mate, was in some way profane. So most of the other boys didn't play around much while they changed.

Things changed a little when swimming lessons began. Unlike many of the other students that could wear water proof bracers, Geoff couldn't cover his mark so easily. He supposed he could wear a shirt while he swam but even with a shirt his parents had never let him swim in public pools in fear that someone might see his mark, so of course the two of them were against him swimming at school but surprisingly told him it was his own choice. It was odd how nervous he had become when it became his decision, in the end he had refused to get in the pool.

“The highest grade you'll get in the class is C- if you don't swim.” His teacher warned him at first.

He admitted the truth to his teacher, about where his mark sat and that he didn't want anyone to see it. Geoff mentally damned his parents for training him to be so frightened of others seeing his mark. His teacher however looked annoyed and entirely unimpressed by his explanation.

“You are fifteen years old.” He reminded Geoff. “I think it's okay if someone sees your mark. You might even get lucky and find your soul mate.”

Geoff still refused and ended up being put on a bench with the other students who refused to get in the pool. There were a half dozen of them, most girls likely because the stigma to hide the mark was always pushed onto girls far more than it was onto boys. Geoff didn't know them but he had seen them around school and by the clothes they wore he could very easily tell where their marks must have been. There was a girl who had worn high boots ever since sixth grade and there were two more who always wore long sleeves even while in gym and another who always wore thick jeans to school. There was a boy who had wore turtle necks all year long, which must have really sucked during the summer, and there was another boy that Geoff hadn't really taken note of before.

He was a heavier young man with rust colored hair and glasses. He wasn't dressed in odd clothes that could easily give his mark's position away. He looked out at the other students swimming and clearly felt embarrassed that he wasn't swimming with them and Geoff could sympathize.

They all sat in silence for only one day before they realized that if they were going to be stuck sitting there then they might as well bring something to do. Turtle Neck and Boots (that's what Geoff began to call them in his head because he had never gotten their names) started bringing in their homework and doing it together. One of the girls in long sleeves seemed to get bored quickly because in three days she or one of her parents had apparently broken down and gotten her a bracer for her right arm so that she could swim as well. The other girl with long sleeves started bringing in books to read and after a while she and Jeans started chatting about whatever it is she was reading.

It was less than a week after sitting there being bored out of his mind that Geoff decided that he was going to try to make a friend as well. “Hi, I'm Geoff.” He offered to the teen with rust colored hair, who up until that point had spent most of his time in the class doing homework just like Boots and Turtle Neck had.

“I'm Jack.” He returned and just like that the two ended up talking for most of the hour.

“Can't swim or hiding your mark?” Geoff ended up asking about twenty minute into the class. The question might have been considered rude and if the both of them were a little older Jack might have found it offensive but the two of them were at just the right age for a question like that to be allowable.

“Mark.” Jack admitted, though his face was a little red. “My mom... she didn't even want me to have to take the class but, well, ya know. Anyway, she really doesn't want me in the water. It's like she thinks the world is gonna end if someone sees my shoulder or something.

Geoff nodded. “Same... sorta. My parents are really strict about this shit. And I guess it's rubbing off on me.”

And just like that the two were friends. In no time they were eating lunch together and doing homework and playing video games at each others' houses (Geoff's parents seemed to think Jack as a great influence on him somehow) and simply hanging out. The two of them just seemed to click in all the right ways. Sure, Jack could be a little quiet and Geoff a little loud but they were the perfect mix, the two of them. They got comfortable together and eventually got through gym class and moved on through the rest of high school, the two of them now best friends.

~BREAK~

The first kiss wasn't the magic that was normally promised in books and movies. It was an unsure thing, with blushing and shaking hands and embarrassed laughter once they had pulled apart. They were still teens, after all, they couldn't be expected to be experts just yet, but all the same it felt almost perfect to the both of them and they knew once they had finally done it that neither had been wrong to let themselves think of the other romantically.

Neither was sure who had asked the other out on a real date first. Geoff had invited Jack to come to the mall with him one day and Jack had suggested a movie night another day and it had simply gone on from like that since the day they had become friends. It was during the start of their senior year that romance even came into the picture and it wasn't even the two of them who caused it. Boots, or the pretty blond girl whose name they would learn was Barbara about half way through the gym class with her, had actually been the one to make an offhanded comment that had gotten the wheels turning on their relationship.

It was in the first week of their last year. The two were rejoicing because they had managed to convince their counselors to change up their schedules so that they had almost every one of their classes together. It had taken some work getting it done but luckily the two had proven over the years that when they shared classes together their grades did surprisingly well. The only different classes they had was that Jack had taken woodshop, which had interested him quite a bit, and Geoff had continued being part of the school's paper, which he enjoyed and it looked good on a resume. Other than this it would be impossibly to pull the two apart this year.

“Gosh,” Barbara had commented when she heard their delight, “I'm impressed. I mean, I like spending time with my boyfriend but I don't think I could stand it if I was stuck in every class with him.”

Jack had given her an odd look, like she wasn't speaking English at all. “What are you talking about?”

She shrugged. “I just mean... I don't know, you two are just so dedicated to each other. It's super cute. You normally don't see stuff like that except in cheesy soul mate movies. It's awesome you two work so well together.”

Geoff's face had scrunched up as he looked between Jack and Barbara. “Barb, I- we're not- d-do you think we're dating?”

The blond looking between them skeptically. “Are you trying to tell me you're not? Because you just told me that you spent two days getting your classes changed so that you two could have damn near every moment together.”

“If you're not, you should be.” The brunette guy sitting next to Barbara insisted, Aaron or the guy formally known as Turtle Neck. He was only half paying attention as he was attempting to throw a mix of berries into the mouth of another student, Chris, who was trying to catch them without using his hands. He was sitting at the next table over and the smaller brunette would begin to returned fire every time Aaron ran out of grapes and blueberries. The rest of them tried their best to ignore that the two were doing little other than making a mess around them.

Geoff rolled his eyes. “It's wanting to spend my last year in this shit-hole with my best friend, not us dating.”

Aaron held off on throwing a berries to give Geoff doubtful look. “Yeah but getting every class changed and how excited you two are? You can't say that doesn't sound at least a little like dating.”

“If Geoff and I are dating then what does that make of you and that idiot you're always flirting with?” Jack asked sarcastically, jabbing his finger to the teen covered in blueberries.

“Hey!” Chris whined disapprovingly, though his face was dotted with purple spots where he had been hit so no one was going to take him seriously.

“No, it's true, you are an idiot.” Aaron teased only get a return of a pout and handful of berries to the face.

“And you're a shitty boyfriend.” The smaller man pouted before getting up and walking away.

“Wha- Chris, I was joking!” He called after but the smaller teen didn't come back. “Dammit!” Aaron griped and followed after him without even saying goodbye to the rest of them.

The grin on Barbara's face was massive as she looked at her friends. “They found out they're soul mates over the summer.” She whispered to them. “They don't want anyone to know just yet but they've officially been dating for two months now.”

She looked pleased with herself and looked at Geoff and Jack, as thought they would admit their love for each other right then and there. She was left disappointed as the both of them spent the rest of the lunch pretending like she wasn't there.

~BREAK~

To say that the accusation that their relationship was something more than platonic had made them uncomfortable was an understatement. The two had no desire to avoid each other but it was becoming more and more difficult for the two to be in the same room without one or both thinking about Barbara's suggestion. Did it really seem like they were dating? Did they really look like they were devoted to each other? And most importantly how did they even feel about each other?

But about two months after Barbara had made her comment, the two had grown sick of dancing around each other. They found themselves sitting in Geoff's room, where Geoff had made a crazy suggestion. “Why don't we kiss?”

Jack didn't respond, instead he just looked at Geoff with a shocked expression. The two of them had just been playing video games and joking around together, why would he ask something like that? Unless... did Geoff actually feel that way? Jack's face turned red and he opened his mouth to respond but Geoff spoke again before he could say anything.

“I just, I guess what Barb said has been getting to me but... I can't help but wonder if she could be a little right. Ya know?” It had all been said so quickly that Jack barely had time to process everything that was said to him. Then, before Jack could speak, Geoff spoke again. “I mean, I was just thinking that we could just give it a shot and if we liked it we could go from there. And if not we can just go back to normal and get back to how it used to be and none of this has to matter.”

Jack still said nothing, not sure if Geoff would cut him off again. The other teen looked nervous, like he had been thinking of a way to say this for days and, to be honest, Jack had been trying to find a way to say all of this as well. He had never expected Geoff to be shy about something like this.

When Jack said nothing in return Geoff raked his hand through his hair, giving a ragged breath because he was sure that he had just ruined his relationship with his best friend. “I... n-never mind. It was stupid. We- we're fine like we are. I shouldn't let Barb get to me.”

The other teen sounded disappointed and somehow that filled Jack with hope, that maybe what he was about to do wouldn't end terribly. He stood but the look Geoff wore made it seem like he had just flipped Geoff's nightstand and declared war on him. Carefully, trying not to startle the other or take it too fast, Jack pressed his lips against Geoff's in a timid, chaste kiss. It was small and simple and when they pulled apart they were both beat red and even though the kiss had been brief and soft they found themselves breathless.

Had either of them truly ever kissed someone before that point? Neither were sure anymore. All they knew was that this kiss had made them feel alive in the best possible way.

Geoff was the one to follow up with a second kiss. He had thought he would be fierce, that he would give a passionate kiss, like you normally see in movies after the first kiss breaks the ice, but this didn't happen either. His kiss was just as timid as the last but still just as perfect. They spent the next thirty minutes like this, giving each other small, careful kisses and eventually just sat on Geoff's bed quietly talking about everything from how nice they feel against each other to how they must never let Barbara know she was right.

When it was time for the two to part, it took all of Jack's effort to leave the house and go home. He pined for Geoff the whole night and Geoff pined for him. Upon their reunion the next morning, the two finally shared a savage kiss as Jack got into Geoff's car to get to school. In the end, they couldn't keep their relationship a secret even a day. They didn't know why, really, but they just couldn't keep themselves from holding each others' hands and kissing sweetly and frankly, neither cared who knew anymore.

~BREAK~

The knowledge that your soul mate is out there somewhere is an amazing thing. The trouble is that young love is often discouraged by parents and the world around you. Sure, most people never found the person whose mark matches their own but that rarely stopped parents from telling their children that they had to be pure for their soul mate. This put a stain on Jack and Geoff's relationship because both of they're parents were so often over protective of their “purity”.

But this was a big night. High school was over! They had graduated at last and both of them planned to spend that night celebrating in the best possible way they could, their parents' worries be damned! Their parents knew it was coming, they must have, especially when Geoff had asked his mom if she had seen his suit, saying he wanted to look nice for his date with Jack.

It honestly surprised Geoff when his father walked into his room as he was getting ready to pick Jack up and threw him a small box. He caught it and looked it over. Condoms. To say Geoff was red would have been an understatement. He looked at his dad, waving the box and trying to find the words to ask what the fuck but no sound came out.

“I was your age once.” His father told him, as though he might not have known. “And the one thing I was ready to do when I was your age was have sex with my girlfriend.” Geoff immediately had a disgusted looked on his face. “Now, I know I can't stop you but I can at least encourage you to be safe.”

His father left and Geoff stood there a good few minutes bright red with a box of condoms in his hands, not sure if he should thank him or freaking out. He ended up shoving the box in his pocket, because he knew his mom _would_ freak out if she saw them, and left to pick up Jack.

Jack looked wonderful if a little exhausted when Geoff arrived. He could hear his boyfriend's mother just beyond the front door that Jack was trying to quickly close behind him. She was making a large fuss and Geoff knew exactly what was wrong, she hadn't been happy about the two of them dating from the start. She wanted him to find his match, just as she had, and for him to start a family with her but this would never happen if the two of them kept holding on to this high school crush.

They tried not to think about how much she clearly hated how happy they made each other.

Geoff offered Jack his arm and walked him to his car and even opened the door for him to be gentlemanly. Jack laughed at this, as he always did, because Geoff was far from a gentleman. They drove off, happy to be away from their parents for a little while.

They had opted out of the school prom, mostly because the school homophobic rules said that they weren't allowed to go as a couple. Even students like Aaron and Chris, whose marks matched, weren't allowed to dance together because they were both men. Instead, Geoff and Jack and several of their friends planned to have a real night out, at a nice restaurant and after they would part ways. The two of them had already discussed it and had decided rent out a hotel room for the night, hoping their parents wouldn't find a way to interrupt them.

Dinner was fun. Barbara gave a small toast to them all, saying that she wouldn't miss high school but she would miss all of them. Aaron and Chris announced that they planned to get married, though their parents were the ones who had been pushing them rather insistently to go through with a wedding ever since they found out they were each others' matches. All the same, the two looked excited about the idea and invited everyone at the table to the wedding. Several of their other friends had something to say but Jack and Geoff's minds had wandered to thoughts of their waiting hotel room and the box of condoms still in Geoff's pocket.

Eventually they all parted ways, with Barbara shooting them a knowing look before they left. They were nervous as they checked into the hotel and they were nervous as they road the elevator up to their room and when they got into the room they collapsed on the bed and just stayed like that for a little while. They laid next to each other, just enjoying the quiet and wondering where they even started with... “it”.

At some point one of them kissed the other and then they kissed again and this began a waterfall effect of kissing and touching and the shedding of clothes until the both of them had thrown their suit jackets and button-up shirts away. They almost got to their pants when Jack stopped all movement. For a moment Geoff thought he had done something wrong, right up until Jack's fingers traced other a spot on the right side of his chest. His mark.

Jack's eyes were wide, staring in disbelief as he traced the star. “Is... is this really your mark?” There were tears welling in his eyes as he asked this question.

Geoff gave a small nod. “Yeah, crazy, I know. My mom didn't believe me at first either.” His boyfriend kept staring at it in awe. Dammit, now he was going to feel self-conscious about whoever it was that shared this mark with him! “Look, whoever it is that also has this mark, they don't matter! Because I have you and you're that most amazing person I've ever met, so-”

He was cut off with a kiss. When they pulled apart Jack was still crying. With gentle hands he took one of Geoff's hands and brought it to his left shoulder. Geoff had known Jack's mark was there for a long time but had never thought he would ever see it, now the other man was inviting him to do just that. To show your mark to someone, it was the most intimate thing you could do with a lover, he was inviting him to look upon his soul and Geoff could never dream of refusing such an offer.

He always pictured it would be blue or a light shade of orange, only sometimes allowing himself to dream that maybe it could be an odd green star inside a black ring. He was unprepared to see that his wildest dream was reality. A green star in a black ring was marked into his shoulder and in that moment everything in the world might as well have stopped. He understood now why Jack was crying and he began to cry as well.

Soul mates, matches, fated, destined, bound, or any other of a countless number of terms that existed in the world – it all boiled down to the fact that Jack completed him and that he completed Jack.

The made love that night, kissing each others' marks and holding each other tight. It felt perfect... well, almost perfect. Something was missing though they couldn't place their fingers on it. Whatever it was, it didn't matter, they were sure, because they were soul mates and that meant they were complete.

Or at least, that's what they thought it meant.

 


	2. Loss At First Sight

Sometime you just know. Or, at least, that's what some people say about seeing their soul mate for the first time. That sometime you look at them and even though you've never seen them before in your life, even though you may not be attracted to them, even though you're from two entirely separate worlds, you just know without a doubt in your mind that they are your match. They complete your soul and you complete theirs.

At the age of eleven, Ray didn't know anything about this. He didn't know the countless numbers of theories scattered across time describing why some people see their soul mate for the first time and are drawn to them without question. He didn't know that many people believed that it was his soul's way of telling him that he'd see this other soul only once or maybe just not for a long time. He didn't know these things, so when he saw the other boy outside the bus window, in his sight for only a few seconds before the vehicle kept driving tearing them away from each other possibly forever, Ray cried.

His mother tried to console her son, not understanding why her generally quiet and well behaved boy was suddenly making a scene, but he couldn't be calmed. He had to go back, this was all he knew but didn't know why. He begged and pleaded, talking about a face he had only seen for just a second but knew was utterly perfect. Of wild red hair that he had already fallen in love with.

But they didn't go back to the boy with the perfect face and the red hair.

Instead he was taken to the hospital, his mother worried that something was truly wrong with him. It was only after a thorough examination that she understood and cried as well, because unlike Ray she did know what it meant to simply know without question that the person you were looking at was your soul mate. It meant her boy might search the rest of his life but the window of fate was now closed, maybe never to be opened again. She felt like a monster but Ray only felt empty.

It wasn't uncommon to suffer from depression when your soul mate died or when you've been split apart from your soul mate for a large amount of time but it took Ray only a week after seeing and losing the other boy to fall into a state of despair. In the year that followed, his grades went from average to rock bottom. Things that interested him could barely keep his gaze any longer. Some days managed to be better than other, some days he could smile and even laugh. Some days he could hang out with friends and play video games like before he saw his match. Some days he could see a mess of red hair and could keep himself together. Some days but not most days.

Eventually he was given medication. They didn't necessarily make him happy but they made him functional, for the most part anyway. He felt numb more often than not when he took the pills, which he didn't mind. What he did mind was that the pills also made the features of the perfect face of the boy he had seen on the street fuzzy. The little purple tablets were making him forget his soul mate's face. He hated them for this but he kept taking them anyway.

~BREAK~

At what point did Ray start working at Game Stop? He didn't remember anymore. Things had all bled together after a while, become fuzzy and distracted. It was the fault of the pills, he had decided some time ago. This didn't stop him from taking them nor did it stop him from wishing that they worked better. All he really knew is that they didn't make happy. Instead they made him just functional enough to let him have at least a half normal life. Unfortunately much of this half normal life had become obsessed with his lost soul mate.

By the time he was old enough to rent an apartment, he had become consumed by the memory of the street corner he had seen his match on. He rented a small apartment only a block from that corner and sometimes on his days off he would go there and just sit on one of the benches, hoping that this might be the day his match came back. It hasn't happened yet and Ray wishes he could hate the unknown boy... Or he supposed he'd be a man now, wouldn't he?

This desperate search he also blames on the pills but he knows that at some point the pills stop and Ray begins, he's simply not sure when or where.

It was a busy day with a new first person shooter coming out just that morning, pulling in many customers. Ray managed to be pleasant and talked at length with customers about his thoughts on the game's previous installments. He had perfected them all and planned to do the same to this game. Video games seemed to be one of the only things he had left that made him happy.

He was having a relatively good day when the fucker had walked in. Ray wanted to scream at him to get out the moment he saw him. He didn't know the guy, he'd probably never seen him before in his life, but his hair was a mess of red curls and the moment Ray saw them he thought tears would come to his eyes. They were just like the curls that belonged to his match. The face was all but gone now but the curls were still clear and he latched onto them for dear life because they were the only thing left he could remember of him.

The man was cute, in a way. Thin and pale, wearing a pair of black framed glasses, and of course the wild red mess he sported on his head. A leather bracer on his lower right arm, telling the world exactly where to look to find his mark. Ray didn't know what he should think of him but the other man made his chest hurt and made him wish he wasn't the one manning the counter at that very moment.

So it was naturally just his luck that he came directly up to Ray.

“I'm here for my pre-order, under Michael Jones.” The redhead told him, sounding formal and clearly not knowing the pain his very presence was causing the man he was talking to.

Ray could only nod and moved to find the man's name in the computer. Michael Jones, that was a nice name he decided, though he didn't really know why he bothered to decide this. It wasn't like it mattered what he thought of him. He found the pre-order quickly enough and handed the game over with as little conversation and physical contact as possible. Thankfully, the redhead seemed as uninterested in talking as Ray was.

He left the store with a “Thanks” and disappeared from Ray's life. It had only been a few minutes that he had been in the building but it had both felt like he had been there an eternity and that he was gone much too soon. Ray had thought he would be glad once he was gone but for once he found himself missing the the sight of red curls rather than loathing the fact that they didn't belong to the one person he truly wanted to see.

Had he been more lonely than usual that day? He wasn't sure.

That night, for the first time in a long time, he traced the symbol on his inner thigh. He normally hated to look at it, hated to touch it because he didn't think he'd ever find the mark on another person for as long as he lived, but that day he traced over it and wondered if his soul mate was doing the same somewhere. If he was thinking about the missed opportunity that happened so long ago or if he had even seen Ray that day that Ray had gotten only a passing glance at him.

The next morning, Ray didn't take his pills.

It wasn't a good idea, it certainly wasn't healthy for him, he knew that. He knew he was likely not going to function well by the time the afternoon rolled around but he did it anyway. I wasn't like he was smiling much when he was taking them anyway, so what was the point?

He just wanted to remember the face of the young man on the street and he hoped desperately that if he stopped taking the pills he just might but even after several days without his pills he still couldn't recall the features. He blamed the pills again without truly knowing why before he started taking them again and it went on like this for several weeks. Sometimes he would take his pills consistently and other times he would go a week without them.

He just wanted to feel something again but pills mad him numb and fuzzy but he also needed them. It was confusing and destructive but he stopped caring after a while. Things were more of a blur than ever, the rises and falls he felt as he switched the intake of his medication were the only proof he had that time was actually passing sometimes.

And then, as though he were a beam of sunlight that Ray hadn't known he needed, Michael Jones strolled back into Game Stop. He bought a game and left but it filled Ray with an odd feeling of hope. More still, he started coming into the store more often, at least once a week now and seeing the redhead became the highlights of Ray's weeks, even if they didn't say a word to each other, even when Michael seemed to intentionally not look Ray's way. Seeing him and his red curls still made things feel good, at least for a little while.

He was almost obsessed with him after a while as much as he had been the street corner where he lost his soul mate. He had to fight with himself to avoid stalking him on Facebook and other social media sites. He didn't want to be a creep, he just couldn't help wanting to look at a picture of him.

He supposed he was lucky when something different finally happened. The redhead strolled in as normal but this time a woman with dark red hair came in with him. Who the hell was this? His sister, his friend, his girlfriend... his soul mate? The thought made Ray's chest hurt. The woman had a large smile and looked all over but Michael seemed to make it a point to look anywhere but at Ray, that was normal of course, and didn't bother to come to the counter for a good few minutes. He looked at several games on the shelf that Ray knew he already had, specifically because he had bought them from Ray and fidgeted as he wandered through the store.

Where these two planning to rob the place of something? Because he _would not_ fight them if they pulled anything sharper than a butter knife on him.

The woman whispered something to Michael and tried to give a subtle gesture towards Ray but it was hard to miss the act, especially when Ray was watching the two of them like a hawk. Michael tried to wave her off while he continued to stare at game cases. He looked nervous almost, what was going on?

He only approached the counter once the woman gave him a smack to the arm and gave him a more aggressive gesture Ray's way. The redhead sighed, putting down the case he was holding and approached Ray cautiously. His face had turned bright red and the mere sight of it made Ray want to smile. He silently hoped he wasn't turning red as well.

“Uh, hi.” Michael greeted him, still fidgeting as he moved forward. “I-I wan- I- no, my friend wanted to know if-”

The woman jabbed him in the side and he jumped before glaring back at her.

“What Michael here is trying to say is-”

“Lindsay, no!” He insisted at once and shoved her away like one might do to their annoying younger sibling. “I can do it.”

He looked back and Ray who was having a hard time not laughing at the two of them. He was also having a hard time believing Michael was able to do anything serious at this point. Finally, however, he took a breath and sighed before saying what he had come in to say.

“I'm just... gonna throw it out there,” Michael had said this with every bit of nerve he had and Ray felt his heart beating rapidly as he did so. This couldn't be what Ray thought it was, could it? He had never had that much luck in all his life. “Do you maybe wanna catch a movie some time... like... with me?”

Once said, it looked like the weight of the world was lifted from the redhead's shoulders but that weight was then thrown upon Ray's. He was stunned, he had though this conversation was about to go anywhere but in that direction. Something about video games or prices or even him and his girlfriend robbing him seemed saner! He could handle any of those things, even if he didn't enjoy the idea of being robbed. But a movie with a guy whose hair haunted him? He thought he was about to faint.

Which made it all the stranger that his head moved without him wanting it to and he felt himself wordlessly nod. Michael beamed at him and Ray felt weak in the knees as he saw the other man's smile. How was this man doing this to him?

“I fucking told you!” The woman insisted. “And you were worried.”

She looked between Ray and Micheal with a grin. “I knew he'd say yes, all you needed was a kick in the ass to get you to finally talk to him.”

Neither of the men spoke, both apparently tongue tied at the moment. Lindsay ended up handing over Michael's number for him before forcing the redhead out of the store, leaving Ray with butterflies in his stomach and wondering when or if he should call him. He wanted to, really he did but there was something that left him worried for any relationship that could possibly bloom between he and Michael.

He had spoken with many doctors at this point and had done plenty of research on the matter of losing your soul mate. Sometimes you let yourself project the idea that a person could substitute your soul mate because they share one or a few features with them. That was why Ray couldn't look at a redhead without a confusing swirl of emotions going off in his mind. Undoubtedly, this was also why he wanted so badly to know this Michael Jones.

It was selfish because there was no way Michael was his soul mate (he could never be so lucky, he was sure of it) but Ray had been lonely since he was just a little boy. Most people didn't think it was right to try to replace your soul mate, hell, at one point in history it was a crime punishable by death for even trying to get over your loss, suffering was considered more pure and honorable, but Ray didn't want to think about that and certainly didn't want to suffer any longer. He wanted to touch those red curls and pretend that Michael's face was the one he saw on the street so many yes before.

So Ray held onto the phone number and called the next day to set up a date. It might have been wrong but he also prayed every night, whether he meant to or not, that Michael never found his match and left Ray alone again.

~BREAK~

Lindsay had become one of Ray's favorite people in just a few months. He should have been threatened by her once he learned that she and Michael had once dated but he wasn't because, as she had quietly revealed to him, the two of them were not a match. It had been disappointing, she admitted, she had been so sure they were perfect for each other but they weren't.

“But even if we aren't fated, I could never stop being friends with that loser.” She told Ray. “I kinda have to, since that idiot turned all 'whoa is me, I'll never love again,' after we realized we didn't match.”

She made it her goal, almost her job, to look after the two and make sure they weren't skittish around one another. If Ray didn't love her so much for forcing Michael to finally talk to him, he might have punched her for just how intrusive she sometimes was.

Still, the two of them were unbelievably happy and having someone to point them in the right direction when they needed it was reassuring to the both of them. Before either of them had known what was happening, the two of them had been on several dates and had their things over at each others' apartments and had even exchanged keys. It almost felt like they had everything until Lindsay pointed out something that Ray had so badly wanted to avoid for as long as possible.

“So, when exactly are you two planning on finally banging?” It had been an out of the blue kind of question that Lindsay was known for but at least it was asked in Michael's apartment and not in a public place like she normally might have done.

“W-what?” Ray demanded in complete embarrassment. “We haven't even been dating that long!”

“Yeah,” Michael agreed, “And Ray doesn't... I- never mind.”

Lindsay face lite up as Michael slipped this out. “Oooooh, sounds to me like someone's already been talking about this~”

Their faces were warm because she wasn't wrong. They had considered it and talked about and made plans that had yet to go anywhere. It wasn't simply because they were bother virgins or because they were afraid of messing up somehow or even that they were timid about being intimate with another man. The thing that was troubling them was their marks.

“I don't have a bracer.” Ray admitted, his voice was vary quiet as he answered but it wasn't hard to hear him.

“Is that all?” She laughed. “Dude, Michael's got, like, a billion of the fuckers. Use one his.”

It was true, Michael did have more bracers than he'd ever need. He had well over a dozen at this point in fact. As it turns out, the redhead had trouble throwing things away and every time one bracer gets old and a bit ratty someone (friends or family) pressures him into going to get a new one. But why bother throwing the old one away when it's still in one piece and still fits? He didn't get the stigma about it anymore than he understood why he should throw out old underwear and he didn't seem to notice or care that many of them were a bit small on him and getting warn by age.

Ray looked unsure with the idea of using Michael's braces though. Thankfully his boyfriend picked up on this.

“Ray's mark isn't on his arm.” Michael informed her. “It's on his thigh, so they wouldn't fit right if he tried to use them.”

Also at least partly true. His mark was on the inside of his upper thigh. He had never need a bracer because who the hell was going to be seeing the skin so close to his junk other his soul mate? But it was so much more than that that Ray was afraid of. What he was scared of most was the _spark_. The feeling that most people say they feel when they make love with their soul mate. It was a feeling that Ray had been prepared to never feel but now he was afraid that Michael would be disappointed once he realized that Ray could never give him that feeling.

No sex at all was better than the possibility that Michael might abandon him.

Lindsay rolled her eyes at Michael's explanation. “God, I don't get why you two even _care_ about that shit. Live a little, have sex with your boyfriend without making a big deal about a glorified tattoo.” The two glared at her. “Or, baring that, just buy a new bracer. You can get them literally anywhere. Seriously, I saw one in gas station this morning for ten bucks.”

“We'll have sex when we're ready.” The redhead told her. With that the conversation finally ended but it stayed in the back of Ray's mind after that.

How long would Michael wait for him? How long until sex _had_ to happen? Which was worse, the fear that Michael would leave him because he didn't feel whatever “It” was that they were supposed to feel when having sex, or the fear that Michael would leave him for refusing to have sex with him?

~BREAK~

It was a good day. Ray had taken his medication every day that week, he was getting better about taking it consistently but he still sometimes chose not to take them, hoping he might be able to function without now that he had Michael. Not yet, sadly but perhaps someday. The world around him felt much less cloudy than normal. He was content, making dinner with Lindsay in his apartment and waiting for Michael to be done with work so the three of them could have their game night. He felt comfortable and safe, which didn't happen as often as he wished it could. So of course Lindsay had to turn everything on it's head when she dropped a bag on the kitchen counter and looked at Ray like she had just done something worth being praised for.

“What's this?” He asked, fairly sure she was about to suggest a very mean prank to pull on his boyfriend and was almost positive he would be behind this idea 100%. “Ghost peppers or some shit?”

“Better, look!” She insisted.

His hands went in the bag and he pulled out the start of a strap. He didn't even need to see the rest of it to know it was a bracer. His hands shook as he pulled the rest of it out. It was actually pretty, black leather with roses embroidered into it with red thread. It was obviously made for a woman looking to be both modest but also fashionable. Not to mention that it also likely wasn't cheap. That was also why Lindsay had bought it for him. Because if it had been a cheap piece of crap from a gas station then he wouldn't feel bad at all for throwing it away.

“... Lindsay-”

“Now you two don't have anything to worry about.” She still looked so proud and almost looked like she was waiting to be thanked.

Ray said nothing, only stared at the bracer, searching for the words to tell her why he didn't want this damn thing but also wanting to let her knew that he really was grateful that she was trying to help them. After all, if not for her meddling, they'd have never started dating.

He must have been quiet for too long because by the time he looked at Lindsay he could see that she looked worried.

“Ray, that spark bull shit don't exist.” He almost fainted when she told him this. “Don't look so damn surprised. Of course that's what you're worried about. You think Michael will break up with you if you're not a match but you're wrong. I was the one who broke it off with him, not the other way around. Hell, he tried to get me to stay with him but my mom's a crazy bitch about this soul mate shit, I'd never hear the end of it if we stayed together. You get me? If you want to stay with him, even if you've got a fucking dragon on your leg, he'd still stay with you because he fucking adores you.”

Ray held the bracer close to his heart and for once didn't feel afraid. He hadn't known the details of their break up before. He had thought it was a mutual thing, since the two managed to stay so close. But Michael didn't care about the mark. Was that really true? Then... then why should Ray?

He wouldn't, he decided. Michael was his and had been for months now and he had no intention of losing him whether they were soul mates or not. Now he just needed Michael to know this.

He smiled at the fabric in his hands. “Hey Lindsay?”

“Yeah?” She asked with a curious look, not sure if she was about to be kicked out of the apartment or not.

“Thank you.”

She returned with a smile. She had never seen Ray look so confident but she hoped to see more of it in the future.

~BREAK~

Lindsay didn't stay long that night. Only long enough for a few game, all of which Ray absolutely slaughtered both her and Michael at, and then to have dinner with the two of them. Michael was surprised to see her go so soon.

“Sorry bitches, I've got shit to do in the morning.” She told them.

“No you don't.” Michael accused her. “You never do anything on Saturdays, that's why Fridays are our game night.”

She managed to fake an annoyed look. “I can't be your marital aid all the time. Don't worry, I'm sure you're figure out how to get to the next base all on your own.”

Ray let himself laugh at this but Michael gave her an annoyed look right back. “Uh huh, fuck you too.” He told her before practically throwing her out.

“You know Lindsay.” Ray insisted as Michael huffed. “She'll be joking about us boning until the end of time.”

The two went back to their games and became lost in them. That was another great thing about Michael, he loved video games as much as Ray did. It made him so must better than anyone Ray could have asked for, even if he did have a habit of getting angry at the game. Most people might have been annoyed by this but to Ray it was just cute and funny to watch him blow up.

“You suck at this.” Ray taunted his boyfriend as he killed him yet again in the game.

Michael almost screamed before he dropped his controller and tackled the other man on the couch and Ray laughed as he did. This wasn't uncommon, it was normal even. Michael would never hurt him, instead they got into tickle fights that also turned into making out. Just according to plan for Ray.

Ray started the kissing the moment their faces were close to each other and Michael melted into it approvingly. It didn't take long at all for the kiss to become heated, it rarely did but for once Ray wasn't the one to pull back, he just kept kissing and touching and seeing just how far he could go before Michael might stop him. They had their shirts off and Ray was working on Michael's pants before the redhead realized the two of them were properly getting naked.

“W-what the fuck are we doing?” Michael asked breathlessly as he finally pulled away.

“Each other, soon, I was hoping.” Ray admitted with a laugh. “That's... okay, right?”

“But, your mark-”

“Covered.” Ray answered immediately. He put on a brave face because he had to say this while he still had the nerve. “Because I don't give shit anymore. Michael, I want to be with you but I've been so god damn scared that you would leave me because we aren't soul mates that I've been too afraid to do what I really want to do. And what I really want... is to show it to you.”

Michael looked amazed for a moment. “Show... ' _it_ ' to me? You mean-”

“My mark.” He answered. “I'm not sure if my soul mate will ever see it but fuck 'im.”

His eyes stung when he said this because it was what he had needed for years now. Fuck the boy on the street with the perfect face and red mess of hair because he had something better now. Someone who wouldn't disappear from his life. Some whose name and face he knew. For Ray that was safety and that was all the happiness he could dream of.

The redhead gave him an unsure look before pulling him closer. “Ray, I don't know what's wrong but I don't want you to cry. If this is what you want I'll do it but what I want more is to understand.”

“I saw my soul mate, just once.” Ray admitted, though he had never told anyone other than doctors this before in his life. “And then we drove away and I never saw him again. I probably never will, either.”

The look on Michael's face was devastated. “Love at first sight.” That's what it was called but it felt more like unending heart break to Ray more often than not.

He nodded back.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, simply holding each other, Michael looking for the right words to explain why he knew everything he was feeling. Because at a young age he heard screaming and looking out into a busy street. He saw a bus drive away and even though he couldn't see their face he knew his soul mate was on it. He tried to follow it but his mother had stopped him before he could run into the road. He had been searching ever since though he never knew what for. He didn't have a face or a feature to hold onto, he just had his hope that the next one might just be _the_ one. Until now, it had never occurred to him that maybe it was for the better that he never met his soul mate because if he had, he wouldn't have gotten to be with Ray.

That gave him an absolutely wonderful idea. “If I look at your soul mark... will you look at mine?”

Michael had never seen Ray looked so happy. They kissed again before moving apart. Ray took off his pants, somehow finding the strength not be embarrassed, while Michael removed his bracer. The two came became together again and timidly looked over each others marks.

Michael almost thought it was a prank. He almost believed for half a second that Ray and Lindsay were play the cruelest joke imaginable on him, because on his leg was a green star in black ring. It was a mark he knew all too well, one that haunted his days and nights and left him craving companionship at every turn. But then Ray gave a gasping sob as his fingers ran over Michael's arm.

“Are... are you fucking kidding me?” Ray managed a bitter laugh. “This is some bull shit.”

This was real. It was really real. After all these years, Fate had brought them back together again. Even after they had cursed her so many times.

Ray tackled Michael this time and the two stay like that for a long while, just holding each other. They didn't have sex that night, both too afraid to ruin this somehow, they'd have plenty of time for that later anyways. Instead they curled up in bed together. They felt so complete now, just knowing that they hadn't lost each other forever, that neither were aware that there was something more that they were missing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, how did this happen? I didn't expect to finish this chapter for a long time but here it is and I actually don't hate it as much as I thought I would!
> 
> I shouldn't have to say this but I'm gonna because I'm sure someone is gonna have something to say about it if I don't: Don't not take your medication like in this chapter. That's bad for you. Trust me, I live with shit kinda like this and it sucks when I forget to take them.
> 
> I have no idea when chapter three is coming, sorry about that!


	3. Linked Up

It wasn't that Gavin didn't care about his fated, he simply didn't get why it was so important to hunt your whole life trying to find them. When his soul brand had appeared on his hip when he was just a boy, he had been entirely indifferent and hadn't even thought to tell his parents until he heard them talking about how odd it was that he was already thirteen but didn't have his brand yet. The look of shock on their faces when he admitted that his soul brand had appeared years ago was almost unnerving.

They had demanded to see it and then demanded to know why he hadn't shown them before, to which he could only shrug.

“It didn't seem like a big deal.” He admitted. Mr. and Mrs. Free didn't care for that answer.

Not caring about your soul brand wasn't exactly common, especially not for a child that was as young as Gavin. His parents, over protective as any parent might have been in that situation, immediately went to work trying to figure out what was “wrong” with their son. By the time he was fourteen, Gavin had been taken to see six different doctors, four specialists who all claimed to have broken the secrets of how the soul worked, and three specialists on soul brands. Not a single one gave a the same answer on what they thought was wrong with him and only one of the doctors had even suggested that there was nothing wrong with him. Gavin had liked that one the best.

One of doctors suggested that Gavin was emotionally detached and that he must be having difficulty understanding what it meant to have a fated. He prescribed medication that Gavin only pretended to take, because he knew that the doctor was wrong and that there was nothing wrong with him. When the pills didn't work his parents took him to someone new. It went on like that, with doctors giving him medicine he didn't need and him not taking it, with only the one realizing that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that he didn't care about his soul brand. Mr. and Mrs. Free hadn't appreciated this suggestion nearly as much as Gavin had.

When they took him to the first specialist on the soul, Gavin had laughed in his face when he suggested that the teen had to put his trust in God to fix what was wrong with him. His parents rushed him out of the building quickly, seeming to only just remember that their son was the farthest thing from religious. After that they met with specialists who suggested everything from meditation to crystals, one of which even his parents had no interest in hearing more than a few sentences of before they all left. The only one Gavin cared for even a little bit was the one that told them that he needed something to express love for, to get him ready to actually meet his fated, which roughly translated to the woman telling his parents to get him a pet. So at least he got a cat out one of these stupid visits.

Finally were the people who studied soul brands for a living and analyzed what they thought each one meant. Each one that saw his star insisted that it was impressive, to say the least, but had differing ways of determining what they thought it meant. One insisted that his fated was exotic somehow, that they came from far away with a differing culture and a differing view on life, meaning that he cared so little about his fated simply because they were so far apart that their souls couldn't feel one another. Another told them the unthinkable, that Gavin's soul was not connected to only one person but several, his parents had been disgusted by this and had left in hurry after that. Gavin didn't even know such a thing could be possible and, if his parents were to be believed, perhaps it wasn't. The last one they met wasn't a specialist in figuring out what the brands meant but rather specialized in finding matches. Their company had connected people all over Europe for damn near a hundred years and had been how Gavin's parents had met, it was only natural they would bring him to have his brand put into a data base.

It was almost five years before his brand got a hit but once it did Gavin truly didn't know what to do about it or the fact he was sent a large file in the mail about a handsome American man.

~BREAK~

Ryan would likely thank Meg for helping him find his soul mate until the day he died, even if he didn't realize that that was what would happen at first.

When she practically smacked him in the face with a newspaper he hadn't been sure if she was trying start a fight for fun or if she was really upset about something. It wasn't until he saw her excited grin that he wondered what exactly she was so happy about.

“Guess what we're doing this weekend.” She beamed at him.

“Uh, movie night?” He had no god damn clue what she was so excited about, which meant it was obviously bad for him. She wasn't gonna try to get him to join Twitter again, was she?

“Nope!” She held the paper open right in front of his face and shook it enthusiastically. “We're finding out soul mates!”

It took Ryan a moment for his eyes to adjust to the ad she had put in front of him but once they had he was baffled by what he was looking at. The ad was for a company he had never heard of, Kismet Connections, advertising as a organization that takes down peoples' soul marks and then puts them in a data base to be marched against every other mark they've ever collected. The ad also claimed that they had been going strong for almost a century and had connected millions of people with their soul mates.

Ryan immediately gave Meg a doubtful look.

“They've existed for one hundred years and neither of us have ever so much as heard of this group before now?” He asked her seriously. “That's a scam if ever I've heard one.”

“That's what you think.” She looked surprisingly sure of herself when she said this. “But I've looked them up already. They've only just come to the U.S., they're actually started in France apparently. No wonder Paris is the city of love. So, like I said, we're gonna find our soul mates this weekend.”

Ryan rolled his eyes at her. She couldn't seriously think that it would be that easy, could she? There were dozens of factors to taken into account, including the fact that it was entirely possible that neither of their soul mates may ever use this service, considering how people normally treated their marks like they were somehow taboo to be shown off.

Still, her persistence paid off because he allowed himself to be dragged to the office, a forty minute long drive to get there, and allowed a woman to take down his information and take pictures of his face and the green star that rested on the right side of his neck. She had praised the uniqueness of both his and Meg's symbols, Meg having a marks above her right beast, the outline of a burning red heart that looked far more like it should have been a tattoo than a soul mark She also reluctantly informed both of them that it could take anywhere between months to years for a match to be found and that there was no guaranty that one would ever be found.

“Plenty of people are still reluctant to accept that this is the future.” She lamented. “The likelihood that you'll find your destined in the states without help is a depressingly low possibility and yet people still cling to an old fashion life style of hiding their marks. They think that being with someone whose not your match is somehow better than letting people who aren't your match see your mark. It's crazy!”

Meg was enthusiastic all the same about possibly finding her match but Ryan stayed quiet about the subject.

He had never told her before but he had accepted that it was likely that he would never meet his soul mate, or if he did than he feared that they wouldn't want him. Ryan had a link to them, he could feel them even if he didn't entirely understand how it worked. It was rare, the sort of thing that people liked to study and learn more about, the sort of thing that was said to make a pair of soul mates have the strongest bound there could be.

But all too often the feelings were overwhelming. One time when he was around fourteen years old he simply broke down crying in the middle of one of his classes and when asked what was wrong he could only say that his soul mate was in a great deal of pain. Later in life when he was maybe seventeen or eighteen he felt their bliss and somehow knew they had lost their virginity, an event that, as far as he was concerned, he should have been a part of. Then there were the ups and downs that he felt them suffer through for much of their life, only for them to suddenly stop very recently, a feeling of absolute joy had occurred and then they had settle into a consistent happiness, with spikes happening much less often. Someone or something made his soul mate happy and it wasn't Ryan. And of course there was the constant contempt he felt from his soul mate, as though they were entirely indifferent about everything in their life. Ryan didn't understand why or how his soul mate could feel so much all at once but it drove him crazy half the time and left him wondering which of the emotions he was feeling were actually him and which were bleeding through from his soul mate.

He wanted to meet them more than anything, if only to tell them to shut all those damn emotions up already!

Still, it surprised him when he finally got his chance from something as simple as a phone call.

~BREAK~

America had always been such a strange place to Gavin. While he never really cared about his brand or who it was connected to, it still baffled him how a country that was so obsessed with the idea of finding your fated could also be so repulsed by the idea of showing off your soul brand. They literally hid them from each other. How were you supposed to find your match if you hid your brand? It was no wonder Americans were so much less likely to find their fated than just about any country in Europe.

As it stood, the service that helped people find their matches had only come to America and gotten it's feet on the ground about two years ago. Which was amazing to Gavin, considering that it was almost a century old in Europe. And, shockingly, most Americans either didn't know about the service or wanted nothing to do with it because they found it profane to let someone look at their soul brand.

Gavin was pretty sure those people were idiots.

The more he though about it, the less he want to go there. That made getting in contact with the handsome American man who was his fated all the worse.

He couldn't believe he had let his parents talk him into this. He couldn't believe that he had opened that damn envelope and had actually showed it to them, expecting them to mind their own damn business. No, they had stuck their noses right in and began to insist that he call this man and talk to him, to find a way to meet him. It would be good for him, they had insisted.

So after being pestered for a week, he called the handsome man in the file. James Haywood.

“Y'ello!” The voice on the other end had answered in a rather chipper tone and had thrown Gavin off immediately.

“Yellow?” He asked in complete confusion. “Who the _hell_ answers a phone with a color?”

The voice on the other end didn't answer right away but when they did their tone was confused and possibly a bit annoyed. “I'm sorry, who is this?”

“Oh, yeah, I'm Gavin Free, calling for James Haywood,” he explained,

“”Uh, that's me?” The voice sounded unsure for a moment.

“You submitted your soul brand to a company a little while ago, right?”

“O-oh, that... I didn't expect to hear anything about that for a while. I only submitted it, like, a month ago.” He admitted, sounding a bit surprised. “So, you guys found something ooooor-”

“You guys?” Gavin asked. “No, I got sent your file in the mail. Submitted my brand to them bloody ages ago, almost forgot I did.”

There was another pause before James spoke again. “Wait, they just sent you a bunch of stuff about me? Like my whole file?”

“I know, weird, right? Whole bunch of stuff, if I were criminal I could have stolen your identity or framed you for something with all the crap they sent.” The Brit agreed. “My parents said that's not how it worked for them at all! But I guess when the company moved to the states thing got confused for them over there.”

“I-I- God dammit!” The man on the other end sounded exhausted. “Look, I don't want to seem rude but I was told that when a match was found they would contact me and arrange a meeting for us or at the very least would exchange our contact information so that we could do that ourselves. So I wasn't prepared for someone to call me, least of all my soul mate...” James was quiet for a few seconds. “My soul mate... you're my... oh my God, I didn't expect this! I- wait, what did you say your name was? Gavin, right? Oh my-”

“Alright, alright, alright!” Gavin called out at once. “You're getting hard to understand. Yeah, I'm Gavin, it's.. nice to finally talk to you James. Bu-”

“Uh, Ryan, actually.” He corrected him. “I go by Ryan. And I... gosh, I don't know where to go from here... I... don't suppose you live anywhere in Georgia?”

Oh, this poor bastard. He sounded so happy knowing that he was talking to fated but Gavin had the feeling that he was about to be crushed by what he had to tell him.

“I'm from England, actually.” He admitted, trying to make his tone as apologetic as possible. Strange how that was, considering that he was fairly sure that he didn't give a damn about the other man right before the phone call had begun.

“God, we're not even on the same continent.” Ryan sounded devastated and some part of Gavin ached hearing his pain... the feeling was new and almost fascinating.

“I-it's not all bad,” Gavin tried to insist, wanting to make the sad feeling go away, “if you've got a computer, we can email each other, or we can write, or we can even just call. We don't have to be in the same room to get to know each other, right?”

Another brief pause before he gave a happy reply. “Yeah, that would be great. And maybe when the timing is better, we can actually meet.”

Gavin wanted to hate this idea, he honestly did. He hadn't wanted to meet his fated before he opened that damnable file, he had wanted to focus on his own life and his own goals but now he felt like he was bending at the knee for a man he didn't really know. Really, it was strange, Gavin thought, that he even cared to comfort him. Was that their brands manipulating them? It must have been. He should have hung up and been done with all of this. So why, then, did he bother to say anything more?

“So, Ryan... tell me about yourself.”

And he did. Enthusiastic but also stopping constantly to ask questions of his own about Gavin.

He barely remembered agreeing with Ryan about one day meeting or exchanging contact information or the long talk they had during that first phone call. In a week's time all he knew was that Ryan was sudden all over his life and he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted him there or not.

~BREAK~

Ryan could feel everything. Happiness, anger, depression, frustration, fear, and even a bit of lust; all of it was happening at once and he no longer understood which of the emotions were his and which were Gavin's. What he did know was that Gavin was on a plane and that that plane would be touching down in less than twenty minutes in Austin, Texas, where Ryan had ultimately decided to settle down and pursue his acting career. Why Austin and not somewhere like Broadway? He had no god damn clue, Austin just felt like it was were he was meant to settle, so he did.

He held up a massive sign with Gavin's name on it in bright green letters and hoped for the best. This wasn't the first time Gavin had visited him but he wanted this to be the time that Gavin finally decided to stay with him, to decide that America was were he belonged. Ryan had long since learned why he had been apprehensive to meet him, he hadn't wanted to be like every other idiot out there, immediately losing themselves to the charm of the mark and ignoring everything that might be wrong with their coupling. Since then Ryan had tried to make himself as much of an open book to Gavin as he could, even going so far as to admit the link that connected the two of them together and how maddening it could be at times. Gavin had appreciated the honesty and had returned the favor of being brutally honest. Sometimes to a fault.

No doubt they had warmed up to one another quite a bit since the first time they had spoken to each other but were they in love or were they just doing this because they thought they had to? Ryan wasn't sure. All he knew was that it felt wrong that at times he could feel Gavin's happiness but knew that it wasn't him that caused it or that he could feel Gavin's sadness and he wasn't there to comfort him and he wasn't going to let them be apart any longer so that that could continue to happen.

Ryan heard a squawk of delight after a little while of holding up the sign and he knew that Gavin had found him. Joy, absolute joy was coursing through him and for once he knew that it wasn't just one but both of them who were feeling it. He almost feel to the ground when Gavin ran and jumped into his arms. The sign ended up torn in half, a rip going straight through the V and they both laughed at their own stupidity.

Ryan got a peck on the cheek before Gavin let go to go claim his bags.

“Any plans while you've got me here?” The Brit asked as he picked out a bag that was designed to look like that British flag. He looked at the tag on it before shaking his head and putting it back on the belt, hoping his bags came soon.

“Well, Meg has big news apparently but she said she would only tell me what it is once you got here.” Ryan told him. “So she'll be coming back from L.A. and we're gonna have dinner with her tomorrow night, if that's okay with you.”

“Sure, haven't seen Turney in ages. It'll be fun.” He beamed before he grabbed another two bags off the belt, relieved to find that they were what he was waiting for. “Any idea what the surprise is?”

“No,” Ryan admitted, “only that, as her friends, we had to be the first to know.”

“Oooh~ sounds big to me. You think she's planning to move down here finally?” Gavin always tended to ask that question about Meg, even he didn't quite know why. For some reason he just felt like he wanted to keep her close to him and Ryan. Not in a romantic way, there was something else to it that he had never been able to put into words. All he knew was that Meg had to be near them or... something wouldn't happen? He didn't know if that was right or even what that something was but it felt like it was driving him crazy trying to make sense of it.

Ryan only laughed at the question. He missed Meg too, especially when Gavin wasn't in the states. She always got him through waiting for Gavin to come back. Sometimes Ryan wondered if he would decide to stay if he heard that Meg was coming to live in Austin. Hell, Ryan might have been willing kidnap the woman to get that to happen.

“So, what will we be\ doing tonight?” The Brit asked as they finally had all his bags and were setting out to leave.

“Well, I'd planned on making dinner for us. Other than that, I figured you might have some suggestions.”

Gavin's eyes lit up. “Enchilada night? Top!” He was so excited that he off to find the car, never mind that he had no clue where Ryan had parked.

Ryan only shook his head in amusement and followed after him. There were some things about Gavin that he would never quite understand but he adored him, even when he was being an idiot.

~BREAK~

Nervous, Gavin was nervous. He had been since he bought the damn thing that was now resting in his pocket. It felt like a massive weight, one he was all too aware of. For the dozenth time he wondered if he could really do it but then Ryan laughed beside him and he felt courage once again. No one made him feel so sure other than Ryan, it was a good feeling, the sort of feeling he wanted to hang onto as long as possible. The question was, could he finally do it this time?

For three years now the two of them had known each other and for almost two years they had met regularly about once every four months. It was a good, if somewhat expensive, system but it had long since proven to not be enough for either of them. Gavin never wanted to leave when the time finally came and Ryan never wanted him to go either. So why, then, did he keep leaving, especially when he had the key that could allow him to stay right in his pocket?

It made no since!

He would do it this time, he had to because he couldn't bring himself to go back to England for another four months and lament the fact that he didn't have the bravery to pull out a damn ring box! It wasn't quite the romantic setting he had wanted but it would have to do. After dinner Ryan had said he needed to get something and left Gavin to get it, giving him time contemplate how he would do it.

“Get down on one knee.” His father had instructed him before he had gotten on the plane.

“Or hiding it somewhere he'll find it!” His mother had suggested gleefully.

Gavin didn't know about any of that. Was Ryan the kind of guy that would appreciate something like that? He was romantic with Gavin all the time but it was hard to say how he would respond to being the one being proposed to. He pulled out the box and looked it over, it was a simple black velvet box and inside was a simple gold wedding band. He didn't think Ryan was the kind of man that would like wearing jewels, plus a diamond was bloody expensive and he truly didn't have the money for one.

He ran his fingers over the velvet of the box and became lost in the thought of what kind of husband Ryan might be. Would he still cook for him if they started living together? Would the two of them still be excited to see and hear each other after a long day of work? Would having sex be anywhere near as amazing as it felt now? Was it possible that living together would make them grow apart? The thoughts were terrifying because Gavin wasn't sure if he could handle them growing distant after he had spent so long fighting with himself to let Ryan in but he also knew that he simply couldn't go on the way they were.

When he heard a gasp he squeaked and almost chucked the box he was holding before realizing what a dumb idea that would be. He opted instead to close it and shoving back into his pocket before looking to where Ryan was standing. His mouth was agape and he was looking between Gavin's face and his pocket.

“W-was that...” Shaking, the both of them were shaking.

“I...” Gavin started but didn't know exactly what he was trying to say. “I just... if we got married, do you think... would I have to change my last name or would you have to change yours?”

Ryan paused for only a few seconds before he gave a good hearty laugh and that was it, Gavin wasn't afraid anymore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the black box. It felt odd kneeling down, Ryan was so tall and he had always been the romantic of the two of them. To be honest, Gavin had expected him to propose the moment they had met in person for the first time and had been waiting since. But he wouldn't wait any longer to be with Ryan and he hoped Ryan would feel the same way.

He took a deep breath and began to say the line he had rehearsed a dozen times over. “James Ryan Haywood, would you-”

He didn't even get to finish what he had planned before he was cut off with a feverish kiss. Ryan pulled back and chuckled at the slightly annoyed look his boyfriend was wearing.

“I worked hard on that proposal and you ruined it!” He pouted and Ryan laughed even harder.

“If it's any consolation, the answer is 100% yes.”

“... Yeah, I guess.”

Still laughing, Ryan hands fished around in his own pocket before he held a light blue ring box. He had wanted one in a shade of green but not only did they not have one but they looked at him like he was crazy for asking. He wore a sheepish look as Gavin's face was a mix of delighted and shocked. “You also kinda stole my thunder so I think we're even.”

Another feeling joy pulsed through the link and Ryan felt almost overwhelmed. There were other feelings swirling around but he ignored them because they had to be wrong; the man in front of him wasn't angry and certainly wasn't bored. Horny... maybe, but he was more than happy to help with that one.

He brought the two of them together in another kiss. The two of them didn't get a chance to really look at their new rings as Ryan enthusiastically moved them to the bedroom. There would be time to call there parents and friends later, at that moment all of their attention was on each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that different countries should have differing cultures and traditions around soul marks. I also always end up thinking about the fact that a company dedicated to helping people find their soul mates would solve a lot of troubles that this AU could have, so I decided that this company existed somewhere in Europe.
> 
> After the second chapter, I decided that soul mates in my AU all work sort of differently. So there are normal soul mates that can find each other easier than others, love at first sight should it be unlikely that the two will meet again, linked for soul mates destined to have powerful connections, and more may or may not be added.
> 
> I have no clue when the next chapter will be. I make no promises about anything.
> 
> Finally, coming up with Meg's mark was a bitch and I spent an hour finding a way to link her to a few people.


	4. Ladies' Night

Of the friends that Barbara had made over the years, Jack had been one of the best. He was funny, helpful, and was always supportive when she needed him to be. And boy, did she ever need support at the moment. She was almost twenty-five years old and yet she didn't feel as though she were any closer to finding her soul mate. Perhaps that wasn't such a big deal to most people but she had watched most of her friends find people and pair off with them and yet she was still waiting for some man or woman find her.

She had to have a soul mate out their somewhere, right? The red burning heart on her right leg confirmed as much but where were they, then?

“So, my mom called me up the other night.” Jack had pulled her out of the depressing thought and earned the curious gaze of the people sitting around him. “Have any of you heard about this Kismet Connection thing?”

The group looked curious. It was odd that Jack would be bringing up something his mom had called about. Considering how venomous the woman usually was towards Jack for having a male soul mate, he didn't often bring her up in conversation, much less a pleasant night out on the town with friends. Still, Jack had a smile on his face and Geoff was right beside him and didn't look bother by the comment either, so clearly it couldn't have been something bad she had called about.

Maybe she had finally accepted her son's soul mate and husband, even if it had taken four years of the two of them being married for her realize she was wrong.

“What is it?” Chris asked.

“And was this her calling you to tell you about something interesting or was she calling to complain about it?” Aaron added.

“The second one, unfortunately.” Geoff grumbled between bites of his burger.

“It's a company that helps people find their soul mates.” Jack explained. “It's been protested a lot but they've finally built a few locations around Texas where they take down all a person's information and put it into a database. They then compare that person's mark with other people's mark until they get a match. One was built in Austin and it's got me curious.”

The group had varying looks on how the news made them feel. Several of them surely thought that the progressive company was a great thing but a few of them were sure to be disgusted by the mere thought of someone seeing their mark who wasn't their own soul mate. Barbara however looked at Jack like he was the answer to her priers.

After all, every time she went out with her friends she had to force herself to ignore the fact that she was surrounded by paired off soul mates, a few of which had been married for years now. It wasn't fair to her that she had to suffer alone because of a pointless cultural modesty that she could barely give a fuck about anymore.

“Anyway, I was gonna go check it out. Any of you guys want to come?” Jack finally added.

The table looked at him like he was mad. Several of them looked to Geoff who still didn't looked bother at all.

“But... you've already found your soul mate.” Gus, another friends of theirs, had pointed out – even pointed to Geoff, as though the man might have forgotten he was there.

“Yeah but if it pisses Mama Pattillo off, we've gotten do it.” Geoff answered for Jack. “We're gonna tell her that we're looking to see if anyone else matches us. Hopefully that will keep her from inviting herself over this Christmas.”

The woman who was sitting next to Gus had an almost dreamy look on her face at the suggestion. “Another soul mate? That could be fun, couldn't it?”

Gus looked shocked immediately. “What? No! Fuck that, we don't need another soul mate!” He insisted.

The woman gave pouting look to the man.

Geoff couldn't help but laugh. “Esther, careful, Gus is gonna get jealous~”

Esther looked annoyed and decided to turn her attention to a glass of wine rather than the conversation.

“Anyway, I figured, since some of you guys haven't found your own soul mates yet, maybe you'd want to come with. Maybe you could find your own matches.” Jack continued.

Barbara felt like he was talking strictly to her now. On her right leg she could feel her mark heating up. It always felt as if it were burning every time there was a big decision to be made, the purpose surely to guild her to her soul mate.

It didn't even matter what the rest of them answered, she was sure that she would be going with him.

A few days later and, sure enough, she had been the only one to take Jack up on his offer.

Barbara was sitting in an office with Jack. She was nervous beyond all reason – not because she was about to show off her mark to a stranger but rather because the specialist put the two of them in the same room, to take down their information at the same time. That meant she would see Jack's mark when the time came and he would see her's. She had never bothered to imagine what might sit on her friends' skin until now and the closer the answer got to her, the more it made her worry.

An odd fear came over her, what if it was her mark? Having more than one soul mate wasn't impossible, hell, it wasn't even really uncommon, no matter what people liked to claim otherwise, most people simply denied any soul mate of theirs that they might find after their first. The haunting thought that her close friends could wear the same burning heart made her uneasy. Not because she would deny them but rather her fear of being denied.

Her fears were put to rest quickly as Jack took off his shirt for a photo and she saw the sight of a bright green star in a black ring. It was surprising but also relieving. When Jack realized the symbol had caught her gaze, he simply flashed a proud smile, perhaps knowing home odd she thought the star was.

When it was Barbara's turn, thought she was a bit more timid, she took off her right boot and sock and pulled up her jeans to show off her the heart on her calf. The specialist taking the photo looked almost skeptical at the mark, perhaps thinking the two of them were there to mock their business with false marks, but he still took the photo. After all, they were still paying to be put into their database so it was no skin off his nose if they were playing some dumb trick.

Jack watched from the side with a look of surprise.

“A burning heart.” He said in amazement when they were all done. “And I thought the star was weird.”

“The star _is_ weird.” She confirmed. “Mine is just also weird.”

Jack looked a little proud of this. “Well, alright. Let's go out for some drinks and celebrate being weird together, then.”

She couldn't agree more with the suggestion and silently prayed that her match would be found soon.

About a month later, she got the phone call that would change her entire life.

~BREAK~

Meg had four missed calls by the time her photo shoot was over. All but the last was from the same unknown number and they had worried her when she had listened to the first call, only to hear uneven breathing and shuffling in the background. For a few moments she worried that she had a stalker but she steeled herself and played the second call, hoping these were somehow a string of butt dials but also readying herself for just about any horror movie cliché there was. It left the timid voice on the other end almost disappointing.

“ _Uh- I... I'm Bar- oh geez. How do I- my... we're... shit!_ ” The voice on the other end was female and sounded as though she had no idea what she was doing. But there was another call, so maybe she had figured it out.

“ _Hello, my name is Barbara Dunkleman._ ” The woman's voice sounded calmer but also sounded more robotic, like she was reading from a script. Come to think of it, yes, it sounded exactly like someone reading from a script. “ _I'm calling to talk to Megan Turney... which, from the voice message I guess I reached,_ ” for just a second her tone was more natural but then she went back to her script, “ _I would like to talk to you because... we're... soul ma-_ ”

The sentience was cut off before she could finish it but the message was clear. The real question was, should she believe it?

This woman, a complete stranger, calling her and claiming to be her soul mate? Where was the proof? Why should she believe her? Surely the only way this woman could know if they were soul mates is if Kismet Connection had called and told her this but they would have called Meg as well, so this was obviously...

What was the fourth message?

“ _Hi Meg, this is Mariel from Kismet Connection, I know you're usually the one that calls us but I've got great news~_ ” The chipper voice belonged to the receptionist at the Kismet Connection office, who over the years Meg had taken the time to get to know on a first name basis. She had made it a habit to call Mariel at least once a month, though sometime several times more than that, to be sure that the woman hadn't forgotten about her and that someone was still looking for her soul mate. Mariel had gladly teased her for worrying so much about being forgotten by the company.

“ _Anyway, I'm gonna need you to call me back. It's company policy that I have to tell you this in person._ ” Mariel continued. “ _So I can't actually tell you the good news but I can say that I can't wait to tell you! Call me back as soon as you can, even if you have to use my personal number._ ”

Meg was frozen for only a few seconds before she dialed Mariel's number.

“ _Oh my god, you got my message!_ ” The voice cheered. “ _I found you soul-_ ”

“I know, she called and left a few messages!” Meg was giddy as she explained. “She sounded so nervous and like such a dork; holy shit, I can't wait to meet her!”

“ _Did you call her back? Gimme the details!_ ”

Meg suddenly felt embarrassed. How could she not call her soul mate first? “Well... no...”

“ _What?!_ ” The other woman demanded.

“I'm not sure what I should even say!” She admitted. She had been waiting for this for years now but it was only now that Meg realized that she wasn't even sure what it was she wanted out of her soul mate. Did she want to one day marry this woman? Or did she just want one of those platonic affairs that some people had with their soul mates? She remembered her uncle has lived with three other guys and a woman, all of them his soul mates, but they had never been romantically involved. They simply wanted to be together, like most soul mates wanted.

“ _Uh, how about: hi, I'm Meg and I'm your soul mate. Also I'm a super hot model, wanna go out for drinks some time?_ ”

She wanted to explain her fears but couldn't stop herself from being distracted. “... You think I'm super hot?”

“ _Just call her!_ ” Mariel ordered before hanging up on her. She always knew how to put things into perspective.

For a few moments Meg just stood there, staring at her phone, just trying to think about what Barbara Dunkleman might have looked like and who she might have been. Did she have a plan for how their relationship was supposed to unfold? Would they turn into best friends or lovers or would they even be able to stand each other?

It felt like it was almost dangerous for her to proceed when there was still so much that she didn't know. And yet, with trepidation in her hands, she allowed herself to press the call button and waited for the answer of a nervous voice.

“ _H-hello_?” The same timid voice from before answered the call.

The voice sent a fire through her chest and just like that, Meg couldn't hold back the smile that formed on her face. “God – I don't know anything about you but you're already perfect.”

~BREAK~

If it hadn't been for the burn that went up her back, Lindsay likely would have lied or simply said no to the invitation. It wasn't that she didn't absolutely love her sister or that she didn't want to be there for the other woman's wedding. She simply didn't want the long plane ride back to Texas or hassle of all the family and friends of the family asking her when she would finally find her soul mate and tie the knot. She was pretty sure she was going to stab the first person who suggested that she wasn't looking hard enough for her destined partner.

What exactly was she supposed to do? It wasn't like she had her sister's luck of having her mark right on the back of her hand! She had found her soul mate simply by refusing to wear a glove, Lindsay didn't have that convenience. Lindsay's damn mark was in the center of her back right around where her bra clasped together, so the option of showing off her mark to any potential suitor wasn't exactly practical until _at least_ the third date.

Still, the burn went up her back and, like every time before, she answered the burn with a willingness she couldn't quite fight. People often said that your mark burning meant that the decision you were about to make was one that could lead you to your soul mate. In Lindsay's case, it had never done that but it had lead her to Michael and while it did disappoint her that he wasn't her soul mate, she did get a best friend out of it. And it happened again when Michael mentioned Ray to her for the first time. She had demanded he pursue him for the admittedly selfish hope that Michael might find out whether or not Ray was actually her soul mate. In the end, though she had grown to like Ray, she had made it her goal to keep the two together, because they were her friends and their happiness meant more to her than her own. And when she learned that the two were truly soul mates, she felt the mark burn again, though this time it was as though the burning heart on her back was proud of her and what she had accomplished.

Maybe that was her mark's purpose, not to find her love but to find everyone else love. All she knew was that she couldn't give up on the mark. What if this time was different? If she ignored it, she could miss out on finding her match forever!

One long plane ride, a dressing fitting, and several long conversations with the future in-law later and Lindsay was happy as hell to get away from everyone and join her sister's bachelorette party. They had gone to a bar with a neon pink sign on the front that flashed LADIES' NIGHT. The group or women (most of who Lindsay didn't really know) slipped inside and while the other girls had their fun, Lindsay found herself sitting at the bar, ordering something strong and hoping the night would end soon.

Somewhere between her third and fourth drink a pretty blond woman ended up beside her and ordered a beer. Her mark burned. At this point, Lindsay found herself too drunk to really give two fucks about the glorified tattoo so she tried to ignore it. She probably wasn't her soul mate anyway. And yet her hands somehow found a pen and went to work on a napkin. Before she can really think about how, she had doodles the burning heart several times over on napkin and was running out of space to draw it.

It was around the time that she started drawing it on her own hand and up her arm that the woman next to her paid her any mind.

“Meg?” She blond asked, sounding unsure of the question.

Lindsay didn't catch that the question was aimed at her for several seconds until she looked to the blond to see her staring at her. “... Who, me?” She asked with a drunk slur to her word.

The blond nodded.

“Nu, 'm... I don' know a Meg.” She offered her now drawn on hand to the blond. “'m Lindsay, i's... nice ta meet ya.”

The blond accepted her hand but didn't shake it, instead she traced over the symbol Lindsay had drawn on her hand and looked at her curiously. She looked at each heart like it were the most precious thing in the world to her before she looked back at to Lindsay's face.

“Why did you draw these?” She asked, her voice perhaps holding a bit of hope.

“Because... because my bitch sister has all the luck.” She grumbled. “Sure, she says her mark is boring in compar'son but she d'sn't have ta wander 'round without a shirt on jus' ta let people see 'er mark!” She spat bitterly and glared over to her sister, who was by now thoroughly drunk along with most of her friends.

“So that's your mark then?” A new voice asked and heat went up Lindsay's back again.

Turning, she saw a woman with purple hair and glasses. She was pretty just like the blond and her open blouse made it clear that she wasn't afraid to show it. Lindsay didn't entirely get way this purple haired stranger was asking her about this or why the pretty blond was still holding her arm and tracing the hearts she had drawn. Still, when the woman asked if she could take the seat beside her, Lindsay simply shrugged and then nodded.

“'m Lindsay.” She introduced herself. “You?”

“Meg.” The woman with the purple hair offered and gave a bit of a confused smiled at her. “You're not Barbara?”

“... Why th' hell would I be Barb'ra?” The redhead demanded. She turned back to the blond. “Weren' you lookin' for a Meg or somethin'?” She gave an almost violent gesture to the other woman. “There ya go.”

The two looked passed Lindsay and gave each other surprised looks.

“I'm Barbara.” The blond told her and Meg returned with a smile.

Heat went up Lindsay's back and suddenly she felt her drunken haze start to lift. That's new and officially a waste of money for all the drinks she had bought. She about to order another drink, hoping these obviously newly united soul mates would walk away so that she could get drunk again but Barbara's hands were back on her arm and tracing the burning hearts she had drawn there. On the other side of Lindsay, Meg was looking her up and down, like she was trying to figure her out. Normally she might have thought that she had just made some new, odd friends but the burn on her back wasn't going away like it normally did. That coupled with the fact that she really just wanted to order a drink and have her damn arm back was forcing her to her boiling point.

“Can I help you two with something?” She demanded them both. “You love birds obviously came here to find each other, so go do something together and get off of my arm!”

She couldn't help it, she was just too frustrated. She stood up, deciding she didn't give a fuck about the drink or the bachelorette party anymore. Someone called out to her to wait but she ran out of the bar faster than she even meant to and found herself a block away before she could catch up with herself.

Her mark was still burning but now it was like it was angry at her, like it wanted her to go back. But she didn't do this, instead she found a bench to sit on and ended up crying.

Why was this bothering her so much? She was normally okay with being surrounded by other people who were soul mates, so why did those two bother her so much when they were no more obnoxious than Michael and Ray normally were? Was it because she was drunk at the time or were these women simply different somehow?

Before she could come up with an answer she felt a hand on her shoulder. Of all the things she had expected, the very same women from the bar being behind her wasn't it. The blond gave a gentle smile and the woman with the purple hair was right beside her, looking unsure at the moment.

Lindsay pulled away and was to her feet in an instant.

“Who the fuck are you?” She demanded. “I appreciate if you're worried about me but this is just getting creepy, so go fuck with someone else!”

“But we're...” Barbara start but didn't seem to know what to say. She looked to Meg, asking for help.

“Please, could we just get you to look at something first?” Meg insisted.

Lindsay hesitated for a moment, not sure what they thought they could say to her or why they were even bothering. Another burn went up her back and she thought that maybe she should listen to her mark, for at least a few second. As Meg began to unbutton her shirt, however, Lindsay was pretty sure she didn't want to know what they wanted any longer.

“M-Meg! What the hell are you doing?” Barbara stammered.

So this made no more sense to her than it did Lindsay? That was... strangely comforting.

Lindsay was about to tell the women that, though they seemed nice enough, she really wasn't looking for a relationship like this at the moment. She didn't get the chance, however, as Meg opened her shirt just enough to show off what looked like a bright red heart. The same burning heart that had rested on Lindsay's back since she had hit puberty.

Her back burned a little hotter and she couldn't stop herself from reaching out and tracing the heart on the woman's chest. She would only realize later that the three of them were standing on the side of the road, looking like one of them was flashing the other two and that Lindsay looking like she was groping at her tits.

Not that it mattered, the three of them were far too distracted by the fact that they had found each other... holy fuck! Lindsay kissed Meg without a second thought and then turned and did the same to Barbara. They were really here! Finally!

“Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?” She managed to ask through the tears that were still forming in her eyes.

The other two took her hands and smiled. This night had gone far greater than anyone one of them had expected.

“I go out to meet one soul mate and I get two.” Barbara sounded delighted. “This has got to be the greatest night of my life.”

“We've gotta go get coffee together or something.” Meg decided at once. “... What's a good first date sort of thing?”

Lindsay had a thought.

“Well...” she couldn't help herself now that she had them here, “either of two busy tomorrow? My sister's getting married and I don't exactly have a date.”

The other two girls laughed and exchanged looks.

“I don't have work tomorrow.” Barbara answered before looking to Meg. “You?”

“I took the whole week off so that I could get to know my soul mate.” Meg admitted. “It's be pretty dumb to say no now that I've got you two... but now that I'm thinking about it, I don't suppose I could make a request of my own?”

The two looked at her curiously.

“I've got a few friends that I'd really like to show you off too. And one of them will be back in town in just a few days. So I figured-”

“Fuck yeah!” Lindsay almost cheered. “I've gotta find a way to get you to meet my bois too! They're gonna be excited at hell!” She paused and thought for a moment. “Except their in New York... god damn it! How the hell am I supposed to get them to come to Texas?”

“So, what I'm hearing is that the two of your friends won't be around for a little while?” Barbara clarified with the two of them. “Well, I guess that means I get to show you two off to my friends first.”

“Sounds like we have a full week then but I should get back to the bar before my sister notices me gone and calls my mom.” Lindsay suggested. “She'll probably think I was arrested or something and I won't hear the end of it if she tells mom that.”

Linking arms with the two, she smile and the three of them went back the way they came.

The heat on her back had settled now, no longer a burn but rather a warm feeling that was going all the way through her. She wondered if they could feel it too but decided that it didn't matter for now. For now, she felt completely whole and that was an irreplaceable feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the ladies needed some love, of course.
> 
> I almost just wrote the next chapter with the ladies already together and them bringing the boys together but that just felt lazy to me. It also helps with a bit of the set up.
> 
> So, here's the thing, I had original designed their mark by basing it off of the emblems that their characters in RWBY had but I somehow forgot that Yang actually had a burning heart. So I was picturing the heart being shaped like Neon's emblem, which is an outline of a heart with another outline of a heart inside of it, and then made it on fire like I knew Yang's emblem was. Finally it was red for Ruby's emblem, because I didn't know how to add a rose to the heart but Ruby's rose is sort of on fire also, so it works.
> 
> As always, apologise for typos and I haven't the slightest clue when the next chapter will come out.


	5. Connecting the Dots... I Think It's A Giraffe?

“ _How fast can you get to Texas?_ ”

That was not the sort of text Michael expect from Lindsay at almost 6 in the evening but the pang of concern that rushed him was instant. Was something wrong? Was she hurt? Oh god, what the hell happened? He knew that he and Ray should have went with her but Lindsay had been more worried about what her mother would think of her being escorted by a pair of men who weren't her soul mates. But now she was fucking hurt some how!

What did he do?

He didn't even think to ask questions, he was packing and insisting that Ray do the same before he even thought to call or text her back. Luckily, Ray had a level head even when his soul mate didn't. He dialed her number and quietly waited for her to answer him, while in the background he could hear Michael entirely losing his shit.

“ _Hey, Ray, I'm glad to hear from you!_ ” Lindsay answered with a cheery voice. “ _I have some amazing news!_ ”

“Great but first, could you tell me why you decided it was a good idea to send a message just vague enough to break my boyfriend?” He asked in a serious tone.

“ _Ah, shit, he's not really freaking out about me, is he?_ ”

Ray paused for a second before putting his cell on speaker phone. “Hey Michael, what'd want for dinner?”

“This isn't a time to be thinking about food!” Michael shouted from another room. “We've gotta pack!”

“Right,” Ray sighed before returning talking to Lindsay, “yeah, you should probably tell him you're not dying or I'm gonna have to come down there and personally kick your ass.”

“ _Alright, alright, let me talk to him._ ” She said.

Ray found the redhead cramming clothes into a suitcase, looking hopelessly worried. He shoved the phone into his hands and said it was Lindsay. Michael immediately clung to it as though it was the woman herself.

“Lindsay, oh my god, what's happening?” Michael demanded. “What's wrong? Are yo-”

“ _I'm find, you bitch!_ ” Lindsay laughed at him. “ _I would have told you if something was wrong!_ ”

Michael looked relieved when heard this but his calm didn't stay long. “Then... what the hell did you need us to come to Texas for?”

Lindsay sighed on the other end of the line but explained. “ _I wanted to tell you in person but I guess this will have to do. I found my soul mates and they're amazing._ ”

Michael and Ray was stunned into silence. They hadn't expected an answer like that, they had thought it had something to do her family or something but certainly not this.

“ _We... we haven't really worked anything out just yet._ ” She admitted. “ _But they're both here and all of their friends are here so... it's not clear what I'm gonna do yet, we just talked about some long distance stuff for now. Anyway, I wanted to ask you guys to come meet them while we were all in one place!_ ”

There was a horrible realization that dawned on both of the men. Lindsay wouldn't be staying in New York much longer. Her soul mate was – no, soul mates, more than one – her soul mates were in Texas and they were sure that she would eventually not have it in herself to stay away from them. Their hearts ached with this knowledge but they couldn't very well tell her she didn't have the right to make that decision.

And after all, this should have been a time to celebrate! Their friend had finally found the people that completed her. What kind of friends would they be if they let something as selfish as their own worries keep her from her destined lovers?

“We can book a flight out tonight and hopefully be their sometime tomorrow.” Ray decided.

“ _Really?_ ” She sounded ecstatic but her tone wavered a bit. “ _But what about your work? I don't want you guys to-_ ”

“Don't worry about it.” Ray insisted. “I can get some time off and I sure Michael can too. Right?”

“Totally.” Michael agreed. “We'll be out there soon. We'll call back when we've got everything set up.”

“ _Okay, I love you guys so much!_ ” She told them both before they hung up.

The two of them looked at each other, neither sure what they should do just yet. After a while Michael ended up sitting down while Ray started digging through a drawer where he remembered he had last left his medication. He hadn't felt like he needed it for a while now and he still didn't feel that way just yet but he didn't know how long that would last. It was better to have them with him on the trip and not need them than to not have them and to have a break down because he needed them.

“... I don't know if I can get the time off.” Michael admitted. “Not on such short notice. I'm pretty sure my boss would fucking kill me if I asked.”

“Yeah, I don't think I can either.” Ray agreed. And yet he had grabbed another suitcase and was now folding clothes to put in it.

“But we're still going?” Michael couldn't stop himself from asking as he watched Ray fold.

“Of course we fucking are, you idiot!” Ray laughed at the question. As if Michael doubting it for even a second was the most laughable thing there was.

“We could get fired.” The redhead pointed out.

“Here's hoping.” The other man nodded.

The two stayed quiet for a while. Eventually Michael grabbed his laptop and booked the earliest flight he could for the two of them before looking back to Ray who had gone off and grabbed their toothbrushes and packed them for them and was now working on the mess of a bag that Michael had tried to pack before. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Ray so calm in the face of change, especially big change like this.

His boyfriends fearless expressions gave Michael his own nerve to ask what he was truly wondering at that moment.

“... Are we moving?” The redhead managed the question.

Ray paused and looked at the other man. They didn't need to speak the answer, because as odd as it was, Lindsay really was the only thing keeping them in this city anymore, wasn't she? And if they were there, she was sure to try to cling to the way things were before while also juggling her soul mates. By the time she would finally break down and go to them, they might end up growing distant and then she'll be trapped between two groups of people she wants to be with. There was no way in hell they would let her live like that.

So Ray packed and Michael began to look up apartment and job listings. As strange as it might have seemed, neither were afraid. Instead, they felt like they were about to walk into something great.

~BREAK~

If it hadn't been for the chirp of Jack's cell phone, Geoff would have still been in bed. The gentle roar of the shower became more obvious the longer the phone rang and Geoff realized after a few second that Jack was in the shower and wouldn't be able to answer his phone. That of course mean the he would have to answer the phone for him if he had any hope of getting back to sleep.

Sluggishly, he sat up and looked at the clock. It was well passed noon and most of the day was already gone. The night before had been one hell of a party, hadn't it? The had gotten one hell of a surprise from Barbara who had insisted that everyone needed to come out for the night. She had waltzed into the bar in a beautiful dress, with a woman on each of her arms, as if she were some high-class pimp. She had introduced the two as her soul mates and after that they had celebrated so hard that Geoff couldn't even remember what the two women's names had been.

The phone chirped again and his hand groped at the bedside table until it found the phone and he answered it.

“Hello?” He grumbled.

“ _Hello there, I'm called for Jack Pattillo, is he available?_ ” The woman on the other end answered is a voice that was much to cheery for Geoff's liking.

Christ, what had he drank the night before?

Geoff looked to the door that lead to the bathroom. Jack probably wouldn't be out for a while, so he probably wouldn't mind if he just took the message for him. With any luck it would just be a telemarketer or something anyway.

He grabbed at a pen and note pad from the side table before answering the woman. “Yeah, what ya need?”

“ _Wonderful, I'm Kara calling from Kismet Connection with some great news._ ” She told him. “ _We found your soul mates!_ ”

Geoff had been scribbling down everything she was saying right up until she said this part. Soul mates? Not just one but plural? Just like Barbara. This was some kind of joke, right? Someone was surely playing a trick on them!

“Wha?”

“ _I know,_ ” she spoke in a kind tone, “ _from what your profile says you live in Texas, right? Having more than one soul mate is generally frowned upon in the area you live in but I think if you call them you might be able to see that there's nothing wrong with forming a connection with multiple people._ ”

Geoff stayed quiet for a few moments, trying to think of what he should do. What would Jack want if he heard about this? Would he be happy or upset? And would Jack want _him_ to be happy or upset with this information? It was hard to tell at the moment, there were just too many emotions going on at once!

“I... so do you just give me their numbers or...”

“ _Oh, yes!_ ” Kara sounded pleased to hear him ask. Perhaps most people simply hung up rather asking for more details. “ _I can give you some information about them and you can decide if you want to contact them. One of them moved to Texas also, not so long ago. Maybe it has something to do with your connection._ ”

A pair of names and phone numbers were given to him before he hung up. Looking at them, he wasn't entirely sure what to do with them. James Haywood, that was the one that had moved to Texas some time ago. The other one, Gavin Free, apparently lived in England, because wasn't it just their luck that one of their soul mates would be divided from them by an entire god damn ocean?

For whatever reason, he found himself three numbers into calling James before the bedroom door opened and he stopped himself. Jack had walked out of the bathroom and starting putting on the clothes he had pulled out for himself. He shot Geoff a smile, obviously not expecting him up yet.

“Something wrong?” Jack asked as he slipped on his pants. “You look like my mom called or something... she didn't call, did she?”

Geoff shook his head before looking back at the phone. “No but... you did get a call.”

Jack didn't get to his shirt before he approached and looked at the notes in his husband's hands. “Who's James Haywood and Gavin Free?” He asked, reading the unfamiliar names and numbers.

For several minutes, Geoff didn't answer. The question hung in the air, leaving them both tense and Jack unsure of what was wrong.

“Geoff?”

The prompting seemed to bring his mind back to him and he answered, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. “They're our soul mates.”

Jack laughed. Of course he did. Geoff was clearly fucking with him, because they were each others' soul mates. The idea that the two of them were supposed to have more than just each other... well, the two of them made each other so happy, surely they couldn't have more than just themselves. That would imply that the joy they had given each other was somehow less than perfect, which was of course not true... right?

His laughter died in his chest as his gaze fixed on Geoff. He was lightly tracing over the letters of the names written down and looked at them in a longing way that the two of them had only ever shared with each other. Jack might of felt jealous, if not for his own sudden feeling of desire to know who the men connected to those names were.

“... Should we call them?” Jack put the question out in the open as he sat beside him and looked over the numbers more closely. Geoff gripped the note pad in front of him a little tighter and tried to come up with some reason why they shouldn't but he couldn't find one.

“I'm not sure.” He admitted. “But James lives in the same state as us. So maybe we should.”

They kept sitting their until finally Jack reach out and took his phone from Geoff. He finished punching in the number that Geoff had started before and then, timidly, he push the call button and waited for someone to answer.

Silently they hoped this would be the right decision as they heard someone answer on the other end.

~BREAK~

If Meg hadn't called them in the morning to remind them that she was coming, Ryan and Gavin might have refused to get out of bed the whole day. But the moment Gavin remembered that he would get to see her, he was out of bed and getting ready for the day, only really stopping when he remembered that he was now engaged and practically sprinted to where they left their rings. He fully intended to put his on and never take it off.

The ring Ryan had gotten him was a band of gold with a small green stone set in it. It was meant to match their mark. Ryan really had always been a romantic, hadn't he?

Ryan likewise made sure that his own ring was safely on his finger before the day began. The whole day turned into them calling their parents and discussing wedding plans. The Frees had beamed about the idea of a brand themed wedding – an uncommon practice in the United States, what with the insistence of hiding soul brand from people, but it was a very common in Europe and Ryan couldn't help but think it would be a charming notion to decorate their wedding with green stars even if his parents would likely not approve. They of course also came to the mutually agreeing that Gavin would move in with Ryan while that had time to themselves. There was simply too much that Gavin loved about the states for him to ever think of asking Ryan to come live in the UK. Finally they starting dinner before Meg arrived.

When the knock came to the door Gavin rushed and threw it open, planning to tackle the woman on the other side with a hug but stopped just before he could. In front of him was three women, two of which he didn't know. Meg stood between them, linking arms with them grinning like she was proud of herself for something.

They were all very pretty young women. Meg had dyed her hair once again, her hair now purple rather than the bright red it had been before. The woman to her right, as though to make up for Meg no longer having the red hair Gavin had become so familiar with, had hair an even darker shade of red than Meg had once had. To Meg's left was the third woman, her hair blond and bright and it was highly doubtful that the color was natural. All three of them looked a mix of excited and nervous to be their.

“Make new friends, Turney?” Gavin asked with a bit of a laugh. He hadn't expected this many guests but he assumed this must be part of her surprise.

“Better than friends.” She insisted before pushing passed him and bring the women inside. “Ryan, get your ass in here. Big news!”

The larger man stepped through a doorway, wiping his hands for whatever mess the preparation of dinner left over. He wore the same curious smile that Gavin had at this point. “Do I even want to know what this big news is?”

Meg put a hand on either of the women's shoulders. “Guys, this is Barbara,” she took a moment to gesture to the blond woman to her left before she turned to her right and gestured to second woman with bright red hair, “and Lindsay. They're my soul mates.”

The bemused expressions the men were wearing turned stunned when she said this and then gleeful. Fucking finally! It had been _years_ since she had signed up for Kismet Connection, what the hell had taken them so long?

The blond extended a hand. “It is so great to meet you guys. Meg has not shut up about you.”

The red head was quiet just a moment, staring at Ryan. Not quite at his face but below it. “Holy shit!” She finally said, startling both Gavin and Ryan.

The women laughed however.

“She does that.” Meg insisted. “Lindsay likes to kid around.”

“What, no, shut up.” She said in a serious way before looking to Ryan. “Is that your mark?”

Ryan's hand jumped to his neck instantly. Shit! He had a collar to cover it for when he was in public but he hated to wear it. It just felt demeaning to wear and no one had been kind to him growing up about the fact that he had to wear collar while other kids had their marks on their feet or arms, easy places to cover. He hadn't thought that it would be a problem if he didn't wear it sense he only thought Meg was coming and she loved showing off her mark and even made fun of him and Gavin if they were ever modest about their marks in public. Her shirt at that very moment was low enough that he could see the red burning heart, for god's sack! But he certainly didn't mean to offend her soul mate.

“I-”

“Holy shit, that is!” She almost cheered. “That's a star, right? A green star in black ring?”

Ryan froze then. Only a bit of the mark could be seen over his shirt, meaning the only way she could possibly know what his whole mark looked like was if she had seen it somewhere before but that wasn't possible.

“... Do you know someone else with that mark?” It wasn't Ryan who asked this but Gavin. His voice was uneasy and Ryan could feel fear and resentment starting to form through the link.

The redhead didn't notice he was upset, she was too busy being ecstatic. “No fucking way! Michael and Ray and gonna freak, they have more than one soul mate too! Oh! My! God!” She was practically vibrating now. “They were coming to meet the girls tomorrow but now you've gotta meet them also!”

The other two women looked between Lindsay and Ryan, neither sure what to do with this information.

“Holy shit.” Barbara whispered. They didn't know why she was so surprised but it wasn't anymore comforting than Lindsay's excitement.

Ryan came down from the shock faster than he thought he might. He looked to Gavin. He could still feel the hurt coming from him but the link was also telling him that his soul mate was happy and tired and a number of other emotions. It all made since now. He wasn't feeling just Gavin, he was feeling multiple people. This Ray and Michael she mentioned.

But he didn't know those two. He knew Gavin and he loved him.

Carefully he took Gavin's hand and looked towards Meg.

“So, uh, this is as good of time as any to let you know,” he raised his left hand and wiggled his fingers, “we're officially engaged.”

His friend looked like she didn't know what to do with this knowledge either. There was a mix joy and tears forming and Ryan was sure she wanted to hug him. Under normal circumstances, he would have welcomed the contact in a heartbeat but now was not the time and it wasn't clear when that time would ever come.

Things had just become incredibly complicated.

“Oh, shit.” Lindsay said very quietly. She obviously hadn't expected Gavin and Ryan to be prepared to give such news and probably didn't even know that the two of them were dating, let alone soul mates themselves. They couldn't very well blame her, especially when she surely thought she was doing a good thing.

Before the situation could become anymore awkward, Gavin made an odd, exasperated sound. “That fucking brand specialist was right? Seriously?” He threw up his arms and stormed out of the room, still complaining as he went. “All of them! They were all right! Ever last one of them!”

The women exchanged looks, none of them knowing what to think of the outburst. This night had gone from weird, to bad, to weird all over again.

“... Maybe we should come back another time?” Meg suggested.

“That's... probably for the best.” Barbara agreed. “I think I need to call someone anyway.”

Meg gave Ryan a hug and Lindsay gave a quiet apology before the women slipped out of the house. Once gone, Ryan went after Gavin.

It wasn't hard to find him. He was sitting on the bed in the guest room, hugging his knees and looking like the world was entirely new to him now. Perhaps it was in a way. Ryan sat beside him and wrapped his arms around him and Gavin buried his face in his chest.

“It's gonna be okay.” Ryan promised. “These guys... Ray and Michael, that don't have to matter. Your my soul mate and-”

“Don't matter?” The Brit demanded as he pulled away from him. “What are you on about? You have been all about the mark, you always have been. You're telling me that you don't care about it now?”

The older man was caught off guard but took the other's hands. “Of course the mark matters to me but I'm not gonna drag a couple of strangers into our home and our relationship just because of the mark. Especially if you don't want me to!”

Gavin stayed quiet, thinking about this. What _did_ he want? Just a few years ago he had thought that he would never want anything to do with his fated but now he was wearing his ring and when the redheaded woman had suggested that he had _more_ fated his heart had fluttered at the mere thought of it. Did that make him a bad person for wanting more than just Ryan? He did know but a part of him also didn't care.

“What do you think there like?” He managed to ask, to which Ryan gave an unsure look.

“I don't know.” He admitted. “With the link you'd think it would be easier to pin something like that down but it's really not. I feel anger through the link a lot and sadness. Whoever they are, they feel tired a lot but they also have sex, like, _all_ the time.”

Gavin laughed a bit at this and smiled. “I... do you think they'd want to meet us? Lindsay said they'd be here tomorrow-”

“Gav,” Ryan cut him off quickly, “you don't have to do this for my sake. I want to know my soul mates, sure, but you're more important to me. So if you don't want this then don't push yourself.”

He took his hands away from Ryan again and frowned at him. “Who said I don't want to meet them? I'll have you know I most definitely do want to meet them.”

Confidence, determination, excitement – it all flowed through the link and it felt as though it was fueling Ryan to feel the exact same way. He was seconds away from moving forward and kissing Gavin before the younger slipped away from him and off the bed. He was surprised for a second and didn't know what he was doing as he picked up his cell phone and started dialing.

“Turney,” he greeted, which surprised Ryan even more, “yeah, how far did you get away? Good, turn your ass back around. I haven't seen you in ages and we made way too much dinner for just us... Of course bring your bloody fated, you silly sausage! I gotta talk to the both of them if they're gonna be with one of my best mates! … See you in five, then.”

He hung up and turned back to Ryan, who still looked stunned. “Well? We've got dinner guest, come on Love.”

Gavin was to his feet and out of the room and Ryan was on his way to follow him for only few seconds before his cell phone rang. Feelings of uncertainty but also hope coursed through the link. Surely this couldn't them? There was no way. Meg wouldn't have let Lindsay give these strangers his number, right? Of course not, in fact, he answered the phone just to prove that there was no way in hell that his soul mate could have been on the other end.

“ _Is this James Haywood?_ ” A man's voice asked.

Please, just let this be a telemarketer.

“Yeah, I prefer to go by Ryan but yes.” He replied, why he bother to tell them this, he didn't quite know. “Can I help you with something?”

“ _My... my name is Jack Pattillo._ ” The man told him. It was comforting to know his name was neither Ray or Michael. He didn't know if he could handle actually talking with his other soul mates just yet. “ _Um, look you signed up for this thing, Kismet Connection, I don't know how long ago but... I guess we're a match._ ”

Ryan couldn't even say anything. He simply had no words for what was happening at that very moment. He felt like he had suddenly just became Fate's personal bitch and that she was doing everything in her power to spoil what should have been an enjoyable evening with his friends.

How many soul mates could he possibility have? Surely he didn't really have four of them, right?

There was a sound in the background of his call and suddenly Jack corrected himself. “ _By we, I mean myself and also my husband, Geoff, and another man that you may already know about. Uh, Gavin Free? I'm guessing you were already called about him but-_ ”

“Oh. My. God.” Ryan managed to speak, his voice low and uneasy. This was really happening, wasn't it?

All the emotions, they really did make more sense now, didn't they? Five, five was the perfect number. Knowing how many there were somehow made it impossibly simple to understand and divide the emotions. He could see it now, the lines and where they connected. He didn't know exactly who was who (with the exception Gavin, who was obvious given how much time they had spent together) but he was now aware of the fact that he was feeling five different people at once along with himself and he could finally tell which of those emotions went to where.

It was... it was like the world had been lifted from his shoulders. It was the greatest feeling he had ever felt. If this was a sex scene in a movie, he'd have lit and smoked a dozen cigarettes at once, the feeling was that satisfying.

“I... I have five soul mates.” He said this with a still sort of awe. Everything had become so aligned that he couldn't even be overly excited. He was just trapped in this state and didn't know what to do or how to go further.

“ _F-five?_ ” The voice on the other end question. “ _I... you mean three, right? You have three soul mates._ ”

“No, I... I mean five. I... I'm sorry, we're about to have a dinner party and I can see Gavin coming back down the hall... I'm going to have to talk to you later... but we're gonna meet the other two tomorrow, so... call back.”

“ _Wai-_ ”

Ryan hung up and walked out of the room to meet Gavin.

“The hell were you doing?” Gavin teased him. “Dinner, remember? Meg just got back, come on.”

Before he could move away Ryan hugged him and sighed. “Things are about to get weird.” He said. “But I love you no matter what.”

“Of course you do!” Gavin laughed. He flashed his ring in front of Ryan's eyes. “You wouldn't have gotten me this if you didn't, remember? Now come on.”

Ryan did as he was told and followed, all the while trying to find the words to tell Gavin about the second set of soul mates that he had just learned about. Any way he thought of it, the night was shaping up to be weird as hell.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who went through at least a dozen different ideas for who these guys should meet? It was me, if you didn't guess... yeah.
> 
> I'm not sure if this is good or not, I just know it's miles better than anything I wrote out the first few times I wrote and then edited what I wrote. So enjoy the fruits of my labor, because it's passed midnight here and I'm tired.
> 
> On a side note, I really wanted to add Jeremy to this ship somehow but then it just got too far and I didn't know how to fit him in. I'm sure he wouldn't be disappointed that I'm not adding him to the mix but I am still thinking of him. Maybe one day I'll finish and post the fic I made centered around him but I have no confidence in that.
> 
> As always, typos are my mortal enemies who are sure to have tampered with my work while my tired mind worked. I also have no schedule so this will continue when it continues,


	6. Love Hurts, Like, A Lot

Time waits for no one and life gets in the way, even when soul mates are involved. This is true even for the six men who Fate had seemed determined to both bring together and keep apart. Because no matter how much they might have wanted to see one another, there was still work in the morning and a green card that would only lasted for so long and crippling anxiety sinking in when they learned the news. Two months after they had learned of each others' existence and the six had yet to meet.

Gavin was forced to return to England, with hope in his heart that he would renew to citizenship as quickly as possible and scrap enough money together to be able to afford another plane ride back so soon, while also knowing that he had to quit his job before coming back to the States. He had called Ryan every day and though they were separated by an ocean, they still planned their wedding. Sometimes the Brit found the courage to call or email one of his other fated. Jack and Geoff had retched out to him and he had tried to do the same.

Ryan, however, had been more closed off. Without Gavin near, the link and all the emotions had become too much and he didn't know what to do. He would answer their calls and did his best to share who he was with the new men he now knew as his soul mates but he had become withdrawn to the idea of meeting them without Gavin around. Even just calling them seemed like a struggle at times, as such it was agreed that they would wait until Gavin finally came home for them to all meet. This put Ryan at ease, at least for the moment.

Jack buried himself in work and had yet to tell anyone in his social circle that he had found out that he had more than one match. He had thought before that something like this would be wonderful, he would have more people to love and to love him in return. It was something he had actually envied Barbara for, even if that envy had been for only a single day. But now it worried him. He didn't want to be pushed away by all the friends he had made over the years, he didn't want to have to worry that his job could be in jeopardy because of prejudice from his coworkers, and even though he had joked about taunting her with the idea, he didn't want his mother cutting contact with him entirely. It honestly was a relief that Ryan had refused to meet with them, it gave him time to think. Now if he could only find a way to get Gavin to stop calling him.

Geoff had pretty much always been a drunk but Jack had never seen the other man hit the bottle as hard as he did after they learned they had multiple soul mates. He wouldn't tell Jack exactly what was wrong, leaving the other man to wonder and worry for him. In truth, though everyone else likely thought otherwise, Geoff was ecstatic about the news. He wanted to meet and hold and maybe one day kiss every last one of the other men he was connected to. At night he found himself tossing and turning, dreaming of the possibility of having a mass wedding with all six of them (sure, polygamy was often frowned upon but it hadn't been illegal in over seventy years) and the lot of them buying a big house somewhere and maybe one day adopting a child or two or maybe just getting a few dumb animals – all the things that Geoff once thought he would only ever want to have with Jack. So why was he hitting the bottle? They didn't want what he wanted or at least most of them didn't. Gavin had been the only one of them who seemed to want this to work, even Jack didn't seem like he wanted his new soul mates to be part of his life. Ryan refused to meet them and had to be the one to be called if Geoff wanted any form of communication with the other man. And then there was of course the other two, the youngest of his soul mates, both of who wouldn't even get in contact with them. And the only reason he knew they were refusing was because Lindsay had told all them about their refusal to meet them.

Michael and Ray both cried when Lindsay sat them down and told them that they had more to their souls than just each other, admittedly for very different reasons. The redhead's mind had begun to swim with ideas of what his soul mates might have looked like, what their interests were, if he would have to change somehow for them, but those thoughts were lost quickly. Before he could ask anything, Ray was to his feet and running out of Barbara's apartment where the news was delivered and into the streets. Michael ran after him and the youngest of the two didn't get far before he had caught him and held on as the other man cried into his chest. He wept and begged Michael not to leave him, that he couldn't lose him again – he couldn't live with that pain again, he refused to live with that pain again. If there was one thing Michael was sure of, it was that he had never wanted Ray to feel unwanted, so he held on tight and promised that they didn't need those fuckers to make them happy. They were soul mates, they were as whole as they needed to be and that was enough.

Ray was selfish, he wouldn't let anyone convince him otherwise. What else could it be called what he did to Michael? He was supposed to love him and yet he had cried and broke down like a child because he was too afraid to share his soul mate with anyone else. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair to Michael but every time he tried to fix his mistake and suggest they try to get in touch with their soul mates, he just broke down again. He had never felt so pathetic nor had he ever felt so strongly before then that he needed the medication that he had long since thought he was finally done with. One day, he prayed, one day he would have the courage to be a good enough person and set Michael free. Their other soul mates would probably give him more than Ray ever could but for now he couldn't hold back he selfishness and he clung to him tightly each night, in fear that he might wake up one morning to see that Michael had finally gone.

Meanwhile, from the sideline the three women that had known the six for several years now watched disapprovingly. God! Why did these men have to make things so complicated?

~BREAK~

He could say almost anything he liked about his mother but the one thing he couldn't say was that she wasn't persistent. Even after so many years of the two of them being married and insisting that they had chosen each other, Jack's mom still tried to introduce him to women. He didn't know how she still had friends with unmarried daughters or younger sisters or cousins or nieces or whatever when it seemed like every month or so she would call and tell him that she had someone for him to meet. The only reason he ever went through with any of the meetings was because his mother paid for every meal or event they ended up going to. That and the fact that Geoff thought it was _hilarious_.

After a while, letting the girls know about his marital status became easy and he generally got it out of the way the moment he meet them. Some of them took the information well, some even relieved, and they spent the rest of the night enjoying the meal or show that they had been forced to go to. Some others, however, quickly became upset – many stormed out on him and called him some terrible words before they went, while a surprising few thought he was telling them he was looking for an affair. In all of those cases, he was glad to see them go.

This time his mother had insisted on him taking a woman to see a play. She had said that she was from another country and having someone show her a little welcome would be good for her. Jack didn't really care whether this was true or not. She was a pretty brunette, with glasses and an accent that made his mind wander to the phone conversations he had been having with Gavin recently.

“You must be Caiti?” He greeted her as his mother and her grandma had shoved a pair of tickets in their direction and told them to have a good night.

She gave him a smile. “Yeah, which would make you Jack.”

He offered her a hand shake, hoping she would see his wedding ring as he did it. The sad part was that she seemed so nice, it made him wish they could have met under different circumstances. Maybe the two of them could have been friends.

They got into Jack's car and headed to the theater. They were silent for only a short while before he decided it was best to open the can of worms now and as quickly as he could, before he got too far from his mom's place. At least if she didn't want to go out with him anymore, they would still be near her car.

“So, before we get too far into this,” he started, “I think you ought to know something about me.”

She sighed, as though she expected this to be said. “Let me guess, you're looking for your soul mate, right? Or the opposite of that, you're not looking for anything serious right now?”

“What? No! I'm not looking for anyone.” He admitted. “I've found my soul mate and I'm married to him. My mom just doesn't want to accept that because he's a man and keeps setting me up on dates with women.”

Jack couldn't tell if her expression was disappointment or something similar but after a few second she flashed him a small smile and gave a little nod, as though it made sense what he was saying. “My grandma keeps setting me up, too. Not just with guys, either. She thinks if she shoves enough people in my direction, one of them will eventually stick and I'll find my soul mate.”

“I'm sorry if this ruins your night for you.” He apologized. “I didn't mean to do that.”

“No, I get it.” She assured him. “We're both just trying to keep our families happy, you don't need to be sorry for that.”

Jack smiled at this. He didn't often get set up with women who actually understood where he was coming from. It was refreshing.

After a bit more silence Caiti spoke again. “So... what's it like? Being with your soul mate, I mean.”

Jack almost swerved the car in surprise of the question. Was this question an innocent one or was she trying to asked about the "Spark" with a man she barely knew? His mind went to the perverted thought immediately and couldn't stop himself from assuming that that was what she meant. “I-well, that stuff's kinda... private.”

“Wha- no, not like that!” She became flustered quickly. “I mean like just being in the same room as him. I've heard even just standing next to your soul mate can make a person stronger. That's what my mom always told me.”

“Oh! Well... I mean, I wouldn't say that Geoff makes me stronger.” He admitted, glad to change the subject. “He definitely makes me happier. I feel better when he's around, of course, so maybe that's what she means. Though to be honest, that can't be entirely right, because ever since I started talking with Gavin I've felt stressed out all the time, soul mate or not.”

“Who's Gavin?”

He could have kicked himself for bringing the Brit up. He wanted to lie and call him his friend but his mouth started spitting out words before his brain could get him to stop. It was almost like some part of himself wanted him to share all of this, even if the reasonable part of him didn't.

“He's one of my so-”

Jack bit his tongue as quickly as he could but he could already see Caiti's expression change out of the corner of his eye. He expected anger or disgust, maybe her demanding he take her back to her grandmother's place or even demanding he let her out of the car but that's not what happened. Instead, her expression looked to be delighted, like she thought this was a good thing somehow.

“You have more than one soul mate!” She truly sounded pleased to say this. “I can't believe it, I've dreamed about meeting even just one but you-”

“You can't tell anyone.” Jack insisted at once. “Especially not your grandma, or my mom for that matter. I can't handle explaining that right now.”

She looked shocked by this. “Your mother doesn't know?”

“Of course not! She already hates the guy I'm married to, how am I supposed to explain to her that not only did I find out I have four more soul mates but that they're all guys?” He huffed. “She disown me for sure.”

“You have five soul mates?” She looked like she was in awe of him now. “How have you kept something like _that_ a secret?”

Jack sighed. “I learned about four of them a few months ago and the situation is kind complicated. I talk with two of them every now and then but we haven't met yet and we won't until Gavin get's back from England. Then there's the other two, who don't want to meet us at all. Right now, I'm not sure if anything will ever come of the six of us learning about each other.”

Caiti looked disappointed to hear about this but didn't say anything until they were finally at the theater. “I've never seen Rocky Horror live, I hope this rendition will be good.”

Jack looked at the poster of red lips and shrugged. “Never been to this theater before but heard they use local talent, so maybe they'll be good.”

The went in and Jack quietly hoped that the play would take his mind off of his soul mates, at least for a little while.

~BREAK~

“I hear congratulations are in order!” A sing-song voice called out in the dressing room.

Ryan groaned when he heard the chipper man saunter in. The sound of people moving to make room was coupled with the sound of high heels clacking against the ground that were growing closer to him until the one making the sounds was leaning up against the vanity table Ryan was applying makeup at. Between the corset and the heavy makeup he was already wearing, Ryan wasn't entirely sure where he was supposed to look on the other man, so he chose instead to try to not look at him as much as he possibly could.

“Word through the grapevine is that our own little Ryan has finally proposed.” The man called out in his over the top stage voice. A few passersby heard this and several stopped and clapped, causing half of the people back stage to start clapping, most of them likely not even knowing what they were clapping for. “So, I guess that leaves just one question, which of you will be wearing the dress during the ceremony?”

Ryan rolled his eyes at the other man's taunting and glared at the people still clapping for him. “Miles, you really wanna get into this while you're in lingerie? Cuz I've got a few choice things to say right back at ya.”

Miles laughed immediately and gave Ryan a pat on the back. “Ah, I'm just getting into character Rye, lighten up! But seriously, I saw the ring, it's about fucking time, man.”

Ryan fiddled with his wedding band. He had forgot he was wearing it but now that he remembered it, it made him feel a bit better. The memory that Gavin would be back in the country in just a month or so put his shot nerve a bit to rest but not nearly enough.

“I really can't wait for him to get back.” Miles spoke again, catching Ryan off guard.

“How did you know he's-”

“That way you'll stopping being such a mopey little bitch all the time.” He laughed again at Ryan's annoyed look and gave a pitiful shriek when Ryan took a playful swing at him.

“Anyway, I'll leave you to finish getting ready. I've still gotta get my wig on anyways.” Miles said as he pushed off the vanity. “Before I go though, you need another layer of concealer. I can still see green on your neck.”

He grumbled a “thank you” as Miles walked away and looked to where his mark was. The damn thing was still showing through after three layers of concealer. Why did the damn thing have to be such an odd color? Miles never had this much trouble with his stupid yellow trident. He applied a forth layer and let it dry and then added a fifth layer just to be sure it wouldn't seep threw during the show.

By the time the layer was dry his costar was gesturing at him that it was time and he swiftly followed her to get ready for the show. He sighed and steeled himself for the performance, quietly reminding himself that Gavin would be home soon and that he could come to his plays, that soon Ryan would be able to enjoy the feeling of the other man watching him through the link. Even if the feeling ended up being the Brit's boredom.

There was a feeling of surprise from his link with Jack on the other end but he did his best to ignore it and tried not to wonder what it was that his soul mates were doing at that very moment. The show went on for a while but his heart simply wasn't in it; his mind kept going to the loneliness but also odd hopefulness Gavin was feeling and Jack's constant surprise. Geoff was feeling a bit jealous, which Ryan could only assume had something to do with the feelings Jack was letting off and then there was the other two that had refused to get in contact with them, one bored but indifferent and the other was nervous about something.

During a change in scenes he was pulled aside and told to get his shit together or his understudy would be taking his place as soon as the next scene was done. Ryan did his best to be enthusiastic but he already knew he wouldn't be able to make it through the whole play with his mind in so many pieces. He promised himself that before they got too far into the play, that he would insist that the understudy take his place. Maybe he could call Gavin and get his thoughts together.

The music lifted and he could already hear the heels clicking on the ground. He was glad that he would at least get to see Miles in all his glory as he strut his way on stage. It should have lifted his mood watching the other man in the curly wig, swaying his hips and singing loudly but instead he had an uneasy feeling that was projecting through the link.

And then there was pain. It was a sharp feeling, like something he loved was being taken from him. He had felt this before, a feeling that his soul mate was in pain and a feeling that he had to go to them but he didn't know how. His hand went over his heart and he collapsed. It only took him a few seconds to realize which of his soul mates were hurting.

“Geoff!” Ryan shouted.

The cast was no longer singing, with Miles rushing other to him immediately. The audience was murmuring and panicking as stage hands were assisting him off the stage, with many of the cast that he had become friends with over the years following behind them.

Somewhere beside the pain he was feeling from Geoff, there was another feeling of worry from Jack, making Ryan panic as the pain became all the more real. Something was happening to his soul mate! But then there was another feeling, from one of the ones that had refused them. He hurt as well but it somehow wasn't as bad of a pain, he was worried too and it made Ryan fear that maybe the two of them had found each other and that something very bad had happen to them both.

“I need my phone.” He insisted as he tried to get people off of him. When they wouldn't let go of him, he shouted over them. “Need to call my soul mate!”

Most of the cast knew about Ryan's link, which made the fearful “Shit!” he heard from Miles, make everyone trying to help him let go of him.

The pain was still there but he rushed to his vanity and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number and prayed for an answer.

“Jack!” He almost cheered when the other man answered. “Thank god, what's wrong, what happened to Geoff?”

“I don't know, you tell me!” The other man demanded. “You're the one shooting his name on stage and they won't let me come back there to talk to you! Even though _I'm his fucking soul mate!_ ”

The last part was clearly meant for whoever wasn't letting him behind the stage but it left Ryan worried. That meant that Geoff was in pain and alone or rather, in pain and with someone who wanted nothing to do with him.

“What do we do then?” Jack asked after a few seconds of silence. “What do you normally do when the link goes off like this?”

Ryan collapsed again, a feeling of dread coming over him that his soul mate could be in true danger. “I don't know.”

~BREAK~

His fingers hesitated over the keyboard. Michael wouldn't be caught, he knew that, Ray was at work and would be for several more hours. Lindsay had tempted him by shoving a piece of paper into his hands just a few days ago, with the names and emails and even phone numbers of the four other men who were his soul mates. He knew it would be as good as a betrayal to Ray to call or get into contact with any of these men, though. So why did he hold onto the paper and why did each name scribbled down give him a different pain in his heart.

It was like he knew what each one was feeling. Not like one of those empaths you'd always see on TV, even though being an empath was about a one in a few thousands chance, who could tell immediately that their soul mate was hurting. This was different. Or maybe it wasn't, he could be sure yet. He had always known when Ray was sad or nervous and had never allowed himself to push the other man when he was in these moods, he had thought this was just because they had bonded and knew each other so well now but Michael felt like he could feel the same thing for all of the other names on this list now.

The one that truly troubled him was the last name on the list, Gavin Free. When Michael focused on him his feelings swirled, making a concoction of loneliness that was slowly drifting into apathy. He needed to talk to the other man, he needed to tell him that he knew he was lonely but that he wasn't alone, but Michael couldn't bring himself type out the words. Lindsay had said that everyone else was in contact with each other, he couldn't have been that lonely, right?

He gave an exhausted sigh and closed his laptop only to open it and stare at it for a few minutes and then of course to repeat the process several times over. He tried to think of anything but his soul mates but he mind just kept wandering back to one painful though, was their pain as bad as Michael's had been? Did it hurt knowing your soul mate didn't want you the same way knowing you had missed your opportunity at love at first sight? If so, he'd be a monster to ignore any one of them. But was that justification enough to hurt Ray?

With trepidation he opened the laptop again. He almost started typing, he almost tried to ask the other man how he was and if they could maybe try to get to know each other but he didn't get the chance. Just as he had typed out a short message, that had taken over an hour for him to write, Michael got a message of his own. From who else but Gavin Free.

_Hello, I know you don't know me but my name is Gavin Free. I'm also your fated. Before I left the country Lindsay gave me a paper with your name and email on it. She told me to wait a little while before I tried to contact you but said that she was sure you'd want to get to know me._

_I can understand if it's maybe too soon or if me trying to contact you upsets you. I also know that this exchange may upset the other man who's also your fated and I'm willing to take full responsibility for any anger that may be a result of this email. I just want you to know that I'm willing to wait as long as you need me to, to make this work. We're fated and even if that means I only get you as a friend, I still want you in my life._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Gavin Free_

Wasn't that a kick in the teeth.

Michael read the message over and over, trying to think of what to say to him. The other man was right, this exchange would hurt Ray in a way that Michael never want to do. Not talking his other soul mates was really the only sure way to keep from breaking his lover's heart but at the same time, how could he live with himself if he didn't at least reply to the other man.

He couldn't leave the conversation there, he decided. He had to tell Gavin that, even if he chose to stand by Ray and never spoke to him again, he still cared for him more than he could describe, that in some way he wanted to have a life with ever last one of his soul mates. He just needed to time to figure out how to bring them together. Carefully he typed out a message to the other man and he hoped dearly that they wouldn't be the last words he got to share with his soul mate.

_Hi Gavin, I'm Michael Jones. This might be weird to say but I was just trying to send you a message before I got yours._

_This is hard to say but I want more than anything to get to know every last one of you but right now I have to make sure that Ray is in a good place again before I can even think about being with even one of you. That doesn't mean I plan to give up on any of you, it just means I'm gonna need time. For now I just want to let you know that I feel that you're hurting and that you're lonely. Please don't think that because I've chosen to take care of Ray for right now that that means I don't care about you or that I don't want to try to make this work._

_I will find a way to bring us all together, I promise._

_Yours,_

_Michael Jones_

He sent the message faster than he thought he might. He stared at the screen but wasn't really waiting for anything.

Finally after a few seconds he picked up his phone and dialed Lindsay's number. He needed a schemer and she was the only Slytherin he had on hand at the moment. She was at his door in a moments notice and together they talked about possibilities. The conversation ended up boiling down to a simple fact, Ray had to be comfortable before they even thought about going forward. Everything else they could figure out later. The question was, what could they do to help this along?

It was almost disappointing when they found out their plotting was for nothing.

~BREAK~

As it turned out, the experiences of working at Game Stop for four years was in fact worth something when looking for a new job. Unfortunately that worth happened to be helping in gaining a new job at a new Game Stop. But Ray had never been one to complain.

Unfortunately, he quickly wished he had gotten a job anywhere else. He should have guessed that he might share a few qualities with his soul mates, like his interest in video games, just as he did with Michael. He wouldn't have known the other man was his soul mate if not for the feeling that pounded into his chest, the same feeling he had felt when he first laid eyes on the boy with the perfect face and the wild red hair all those years ago. The man walked into the store quietly and Ray was immediately in awe of him. He was an arguably handsome man with dark hair, the start of a beard on his face, and tattoos going up both of his arms. Ray wondered if the man had covered his mark some time early in his life or if he had hidden the mark among the tattoos. He couldn't see the green star anywhere at the moment but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

The feeling of the man being there was both energizing and exhausting. A part of him demanded that he go to the stranger and pour his heart out to him, his fears be damned, just as it had been when he saw Michael for the first time but another part of him was afraid to even look at the man. He couldn't change his mind, not now that he had turned Michael away from the idea of ever meeting them, what kind of boyfriend would he be if he did such a thing?

When the tattooed man looked his way, Ray almost ran out of the building, the only thing that stopped him was when the other man stopped entirely. He hunched over like he was in pain and his hand rose to his chest. Shit, was he having a heart attack… or was he feeling what Ray had just felt?

“Sir? Sir are you alright?” Kerry, the short blond man that was working the counter with Ray asked. He rushed over to him and tried to help the man get to a seat. “Is there someone you need us to call?”

“I- fuck!” The dark haired man cursed. “It feels like my chest is on fire!”

Was that what this felt like? Ray wasn't sure, his mother had coached him through the pain when he was a child and now it felt like almost nothing compared to the suffering he had lived through. Was the other man feeling the pain of losing his soul mate when they hadn't even split apart yet? He didn't think he could live with himself, knowing that he caused another person the same pain that he had to live through his whole life.

Ray's own chest hurt watching the man's pain. He didn't want to round though counter and didn't want to approach the man and he certainly didn't want to put his hands on the man and comfort him through the pain he was feeling but he also didn't have a clear enough mind to stop himself. He kept a gentle hand on his shoulder and rubbed his back in an attempt to calm him, much like he remembered his own mother used to do when he was still young and his heart hurt too badly.

“Take deep breaths.” Ray insisted. “It'll pass. It'll still sting like hell but it'll pass.”

The tattooed man did as he was told and slowly but surely he calmed down. It left Ray feeling proud of himself, knowing that he could ease his soul mate's pain with just his words and touch. Then skin brushed against skin and Ray thought his heart was going to melt.

He couldn't let go, couldn't stop himself when tears started falling without his permission. He couldn't let this man walk out of his life, he didn't have the power to do it. Somehow he knew that he would hate himself too much if he let this man get too far from him.

“Should I call an ambulance?” Kerry asked quietly. Neither men answered, instead their focus had both become each other.

“I think I'm feeling better.” The older man said, not talking to Kerry but instead Ray, who was still holding him.

Ray paused and tried to think of what to say next. Should he be straight forward or be subtle? … Ha! As if he had the tact to be subtle. “... So, which one are you?”

The other man gave a curious look. “Which one?”

“Lindsay shoved a paper in my hands with a bunch of names on it a while ago but I tore it up.” He admitted. “Now I wish I had taken the time to at least read them once.”

The tattooed man gasped. “Your-”

“Sup.” He answered before he could even finish his question. “I'm Ray. I thought I hated you five minute ago but, well, I'm kind of an asshole.”

After a few seconds the other man smiled. “I'm Geoff and don't worry, I'm pretty sure we're all kinda assholes.”

The two just smiled at each other and might have kept smiling at each other if not for a very rude ringing interrupting them. Geoff grumbled as he took out his phone and answered it without a thought.

“I'm kinda with my soul mate at the moment, so whatever you need, it better be good!” He told the person on the other end.

“What?” A familiar voice demanded. On shit, Jack! “Geoff, Ryan says he felt you hurting through the link, what the _fuck_ is happening?”

Geoff looked to Ray before smiling a little wider. “Well, I have some great news for ya.”

Suddenly, Ray was excited. He didn't even care, he leaned forward and planted a small kiss on the other man's cheek. Geoff let out a dumb laugh and grabbed his hand, holding it in a chaste sort of way.

“Some, really, _really_ great news.” He corrected. “I just don't know where to start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a thing, again.
> 
> This went through a lot of edits and reedits and I wasn't even sure what segment was gonna go where until it was done. I knew from the start that Ryan was going to have a scene on stage but half way through plotting a Romeo and Juliet scene I remembered the episode of Free Play where they did Rocky Horror Picture Show. And, to be honest, if there's one thing I love it's picturing Miles in heels. Thus this chapter was born. 
> 
> I hate the way I'm making Jack's mom out, like parents are easy templates for the story because I know nothing about them but I just feel bad making her an utter bitch every time she comes up. I'm gonna try to stop bringing her up in the future.
> 
> Does this chapter seem like it's plot went too fast? It felt that way to me once I reread it but the end was also my goal so I don't know what I could have done differently. Anyway, I think the next chapter with be the end or maybe not. I have no idea any more, this thing does whatever the hell it wants, really.
> 
> As always I have no idea when the next chapter will be and I'm sorry for any and all typos. Seriously, I scanned for them so many times, I don't know how I keep missing them.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I'm actually posting this. I made this AGES but I just can't finish the second chapter of this damn thing. This was meant to turn into a OT6 fic but it may never come to be if my writing block doesn't fuck off. 
> 
> I actually really like how this chapter turned out and I hope you guys do to. It's different than the other stuff I've posted in the past, I hope that's okay. The next chapter, if by some miracle I manage to finish it, will be quite a bit darker, so be ready for that if that bothers you.


End file.
